James Thomas Moore (February 9, 1952 – July 25, 2006) was an American meteorologist who advanced

isentropic analysis Isentropic analysis in meteorology is a technique to find the vertical and horizontal motion of airmasses during an adiabatic process above the planetary boundary layer. The change of state of air parcels following isentropic surfaces does not invo ...

jet stream Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow, meandering thermal wind, air currents in the Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. On Earth, the main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are west ...

dynamics, cyclogenesis, and heavy

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

forecasting. He was a past president of the National Weather Association. "Doc Moore" was also the co-author, with fellow meteorologist Peter R. Chaston, of ''Jokes and Puns for Groan-Ups''. Growing up in New York City, Jim had an early interest in weather. He attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, graduating with a B.S. in meteorology, magna cum laude, in 1974. He moved on to

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, where he earned a M.S. in 1976 with the thesis ''A Dynamic Visualization of the Events in the Multiscale Energy-momentum Cascade Leading to the Development of Severe Storms'', continuing to a Ph.D. in 1979 with the dissertation ''A Utilization of the Nested Grid Approach in the Development of a Severe Weather Index'', both in

atmospheric sciences Atmospheric science is the study of the Earth's atmosphere and its various inner-working physical processes. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather forecasting. Climatology is the study of ...

. He took an assistant professor position at State University College at Oneonta (SUCO), New York, from 1978 to 1980. After this he was a longtime professor at

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

, where he remained a staple from 1980 until his death in 2006. A noted synoptician, most of his doctoral students are current or former professors of

synoptic meteorology The synoptic scale in meteorology (also known as large scale or cyclonic scale) is a horizontal length scale of the order of 1000 kilometers (about 620 miles) or more. This corresponds to a horizontal scale typical of mid-latitude depressions (e. ...

. Moore was strongly interested in teaching, both forecasters and university students, as well as the general public. He regarded furthering his students (and forecasters) as the most important thing he could be doing --as even more important than his research. As such, he was heavily involved in bridging research and operational meteorology and he traveled the country giving presentations, interacting with forecasters and ingesting feedback. He served as president of National Weather Association (NWA) in 1999, and in 2000, received the T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award from the NWA. In 2003, he was elected a Fellow of the

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the premier scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the Atmospheric sciences, atmospheric, Oceanography, oceanic, and Hydrology, hydr ...

(AMS). Then in 2006 he received the inaugural COMET Lifetime Achievement Award, and posthumously, the NWA Lifetime Achievement Award.

References

Dr. James Moore Dies from Rare and Aggressive Form of Cancer

External links

(SLU)
SLU Press Release

(23rd Conference on Severe Local Storms) American meteorologists New York University alumni Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni Saint Louis University faculty Fellows of the American Meteorological Society 1952 births 2006 deaths {{climate-bio-stub