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Weather ‘historian’ deals with certainty as an Oklahoma climatologist

 
JAY F. MARKS | Published: September 6, 2009    Comment on this article Leave a comment

Gary McManus isn’t your typical history buff.

He can’t necessarily tell you about the world-changing events from a given day, but he will be able to let you know what the weather was like when it happened.

photo - Gary McManus is associate state climatologist for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. PHOTO BY Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Gary McManus is associate state climatologist for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. PHOTO BY Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman

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CLIMATOLOGIST


• Education: Bachelor’s or master’s degree in climatology, meteorology or related discipline.


• Annual salary: Atmospheric scientists like

climatologists earned a median salary of $77,150 in May 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of

Labor Statistics.


• Necessary traits: Attention to detail, love of data, interest in geography, ability to deal with the public.

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"That’s all at my fingertips,” McManus said.

As a climatologist, McManus studies long-term weather statistics for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.

"We put the current weather in context,” he said. "We serve as the state weather historians.

"Once it happens, it becomes history.”

McManus earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma.

Although he is trained to forecast the weather, he said he often tells people he chose climatology because he is better at reporting what happened than predicting it.

McManus said he learned a new way of thinking about weather as a climatologist.

"You just have to immerse yourself in the study and the discipline,” he said.

Climatology has a lot in common with meteorology, but it is often a subdiscipline of the geography program at schools like Oklahoma State University.

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Related Topics: Science and Technology, Weather, Sciences, Earth Science, Meteorology, Climatology



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