The Geography Department Colloquium Series presents Dr. Kevin Law on “What is a State Climatologist? Taking a Look Inside the Role and Responsibilities of a State Climatologist” on Friday, Sept. 22, from 3:05 to 4 p.m. in Clippinger 119.
Dr. Kevin Law
Law is a professor at Marshall University in the Department of Geography. He earned his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from The Ohio State University where he specialized in Tropical Meteorology. His dissertation was entitled “A Statistical Model to Forecast Short-Term Atlantic Hurricane Intensity”, which was later published in Weather and Forecasting. The paper won the John Russel Mather Paper of the Year Award presented by the Climate Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. In addition, Law currently serves as the State Climatologist for the State of West Virginia. His research and teaching interests include tropical meteorology, climatology, synoptic forecasting, and statistical modeling.
Abstract: The position of the State Climatologist is widely unknown to the general public. Even though nearly every state has a State Climatologist, very few people know what purpose the role serves. This presentation will discuss the responsibilities of a State Climatologist Office which mainly includes providing expertise on climate and weather events. Specifically, responsibilities of the West Virginia State Climatologist will be discussed here which includes speaking to media outlets concerning major climate or weather events, consultation for legal cases, and research that is relevant to the state. The “1,000 year” flood that occurred in June 2016 to parts of West Virginia will be analyzed and discussed in greater detail.
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