Future meteorologist helps with USN’s forecast

 

On a daily basis for a full calendar year, Hudson collected forecast data from the National Weather Service, The Weather Channel and a local television station and then developed his own statistical method to compare those forecasts to the actual weather conditions to determine which source was most accurate (winner: The Weather Channel). Hudson also used a college-level meteorology textbook to guide his exploration of atmospheric science and then developed a series of presentations with basic weather concepts that teachers or students could utilize as a quick-study atmospheric guide.

 

“A lot of times you cross paths with motivated students and realize the best thing you can do is just get out of their way so they can dig into the topics they’re passionate about. Jonathan is one of those students, and USN’s Independent Study program is so good at matching students with teachers to explore and experiment with a huge variety of subjects," Smail said. "In many ways, my own academic and personal interests are a direct result of three required semesters of geology independent studies at The College of Wooster. Many of us teachers here had similar experiences that guided our own learning, and we feel lucky to teach at a school like USN that also values both the process and the results of an independent study program."

As his senior year came to a close, Hudson crunched the numbers on his weather data, experimented with programming his own predictive severe weather models and realized he wanted to add a real-world component to his experience. After extensive research, Hudson proposed, purchased and helped install two live-data weather stations with the unanimous support of the Lower, Middle and High School division heads and USN's Science Department. One station can be seen on the roof of main building above the Admissions Office, and the other is installed near the baseball/softball outfield at the River Campus. Hudson and Smail then connected the two  stations into USN’s WiFi network and then to the national network of amateur weather stations. They now have the official call signs of KTNNASHV262 and KTNNASHV263.

“It’s kind of cool to know that there’s something I left behind at USN,” said Hudson, now studying meteorology at the University of Oklahoma with the hopes of one day working at the National Weather Service. “I am glad the independent study provided a way for me to learn a bunch of things about meteorology and give something back to the school as a gift.”