How do I become a Meteorological Technician?

Question

What type of education do I need?

Is there a school in Virginia?

How much do Meteorological technicians get paid?

Answer 1

I was an Areographer's Mate (the Navy equivalent of a Meteorological Technician) nearly 40 years ago prior to getting a degree in meteorology and working as a forecaster since then. I believe Tami has answered the military side of question very well. Pay in the military is not the best but you don't get rich off of it.

On the civilian side, the number of meteorological technician (currently called Hydro-meteorological technicians (HMT) in the National Weather Service) has been dwindling over the past 20 years since many of their duties were tied to surface and upper air weather observing and most observations are now taken by automated machines. The larger airports do have contracts with private companies who supply observers as a back up or augmentation to the information provided by the automated systems. The pay for those positions is not very good. It only takes a high school degree along with passing the observers certification test (not an easy task, takes several weeks of hard reading and understanding the rules.) in order to qualify for one of those positions. The starting pay is only in the $20K-$25K range and even after many years they only top out around $40K from what I have seen.

The positions in the National Weather Service are becoming few and far between. Most forecasters start the first few years now serving in the HMT unit as they complete the mandatory training schedule. The remaining HMT's are generally hired after their enlistment is up in the military. I have not known any HMT's being hired in the last 10 years that didn't have military training in weather observing in their background.

If you have a high interest in Meteorology, I would definitely recommend a degree from  one of the better universities that offer meteorolgical degrees. You can look up all the schools that offer degrees on the American Meteorological Society website. But, I recently also saw a study the suggested the universities are turning out four times the number of people with degrees than there are jobs available. So, the field has become very competitive the last several years. It is not uncommon to see 20 to 40 applications for every job that becomes available.

Starting pay for someone with a degree is in the $30K ballpark and the old timers are currently in the $80-100K range.

Of couse there are private companies as well as media and coorporations that have their own meteorolgists and their pay can be very good if they are good. A TV type person can pull in $200k to $500 in a large market and the national markets are several times higher than that. .

Good luck.  

Answer 2

(This answer applies to the U.S.A)

I was a Weather Technician in the United States Air Force. From my understanding , a Meteorological Technician is the civilian equivalent - a weather forecaster with a technical school certificate of training coupled with experience, and not necessarily possessing a four-year bachelor degree from a university. A four-year degree holder would be titled a "meteorologist" when working in the field. The AF's meteorologists are mostly commissioned officers. Weather Technicians are enlisted personnel, and are referred to as "Able Forecasters" in the AF (at least they were when I was serving). This career field also exists in the US Navy and Marines, and Coast Guard. The Army does not offer this career field, and around 30% of AF weather personnel get stationed at Army bases for this reason.

The Weather training school is around a year in length (after basic training), and consists of core weather cirriculum classes. In other words, it is a meteorological crash course. When I went through the school, only about half of those beginning the school completed it successfully. You must score a good score on the Math portion on the military ASVAB entrance exam to be accepted into this career field. This Weather training school is located at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS. All military Weather training is conducted at this AF Base. When I went through this school, many of my classmates were Navy and Marine personnel.

How did you become familiar with the term "Meteorological Technician"? Was it listed as a job title for openings on federal government websites? If so, these jobs are for those enlisted personnel who worked as forecasters and then leave the military, but have the skills to work as a Met Tech. If there is a way to become a Met Tech through a civilian school, it is beyond me and I haven't heard of it. I haven't seen a Met Tech job outside of a military or other government installation, and they hire prior military. But just because I haven't heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, so do the research.

If you wanted to join the military to become a Weather Tech (or even as a Meteorologist if you got a degree and became commissioned), you would be paid according to your rank, as all military personnel are. If you served your tours and then left the military, you could move immediately into a Met Tech job opening at a military base (if any are open and they hire you), and those pay according to your years of experience and location of the job (typically 30K-50K yearly).

Those jobs for prior military are competitive and hard to come by and you'd find yourself most likely moving to the military base that has the job opening. It's a commitment. However, there is no better place than the military to learn how to forecast quickly and precisely, and in different places of the world. What an amazing experience!

If you have no interest in the US military, you'd most likely need to attend a university and earn a four-year degree in meteorology or atmospheric science. You could then work for a variety of employers, including the National Weather Service. There are some folks here that work there and can offer more insight.

Hope this helps.

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Thank you, Water- you really helped me understand a lot more about the NWS. I frequently think about pursuing the weather career field because my passion for and understanding of it runs deep, however I feel it may be wiser to keep my domain in an area with more demand. I really appreciate your explanation because you've helped me keep my peace with the decisions I've made.

For now, I'll just be a Boy Scout weather merit badge counselor and this year I'll become a Skywarn spotter. I hope this volunteer work quenches my thirst for involvement in weather affairs! Take care, and thanks again!