Military meteorology is

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

applied to

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

purposes, by

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

or other agencies. It is one of the most common fields of employment for meteorologists.

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

brought great advances in meteorology as large-scale military land, sea, and air campaigns were highly dependent on weather, particularly forecasts provided by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelop ...

and

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

for the

Normandy landing The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

and

strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...

. University meteorology departments grew rapidly as the military services sent cadets to be trained as weather officers. Wartime technological developments such as radar also proved to be valuable meteorological observing systems. More recently, the use of

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

s in space has contributed extensively to military meteorology. Military meteorologists currently operate with a wide variety of military units, from aircraft carriers to special forces.

Military meteorology in the United States

United States Navy/Marine Corps

Chain of command

* Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command ** Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center

Enlisted

Enlisted meteorology and oceanography forecasters are called

aerographer's mate Aerographer's mate (abbreviated as AG) is a United States Navy occupational rating. Duties Aerographer's mates: * observe, collect, record and analyze meteorological and oceanographic data; * make visual and instrument observations of weather a ...

Officer

Naval meteorology and oceanography officers are restricted line officers in the

Information Dominance Corps The U.S. Navy Information Warfare Community (IWC) leads and manages a cadre of officers, enlisted, and civilian professionals who possess extensive skills in information-intensive fields. This corps works in information, intelligence, counterintel ...

Notable military meteorologists

Capt Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Homer A. McCrerey,

USNA The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...

Class of 1942, fleet

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

and oceanographer (

FNMOC Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) provides worldwide meteorological and oceanographic data and analysis for the United States Navy and strategic allies of the United States. The center is based out of Monterey, Californ ...

) (1967–1972) * Gp Capt

James Martin Stagg Group Captain James Martin Stagg, (30 June 1900 – 23 June 1975) was a Met Office meteorologist attached to the Royal Air Force during the Second World War who notably persuaded General Dwight D. Eisenhower to change the date of the Allied i ...

, military meteorologist for

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

1944

External links

U.S. Navy Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center
public website

public website

a book by and about a Cold War-era Air Force meteorologist

References

{{Air Force Weather nav Branches of meteorology Oceanography