Weatherperson's Spotlight: Tony Gigi

Tony Gigi may not be a household name in the same mention of Cecily Tynan or Kathy Orr but hopefully we'll be able to get his name out there today in our Weatherperson's spotlight. Gigi is one of the many talented meteorologists at the National Weather Service (NWS) in Mount Holly, which is arguably one of the best NWS offices in the country.

Tony is from the Bronx and yes, is a Yankees fan. Don't hold that against him. He lives in South Jersey and has been in the Philadelphia region for over a decade. He first got interested in weather because of thunderstorms.

"I was always interested in thunderstorms. Growing up in the Bronx, the windows in our apartment faced east and south. Neither gave a good view of the sky. During thunderstorms, I used to press my face against the screen windows to get as good a view of the sky as I could. I always had the dirt from the screen windows on my nose."

Pretty vivid description. Tony continues on...

"I see it now and realized it then, it seems that people who want to be meteorologist have it in their blood, its almost as if you’re genetically pre disposed to choose that profession. Actually choosing meteorology as a profession or major I remember having a conversation with one of my close friend’s mother. I kept on going back and forth in high school between wanting to be a doctor and meteorologist. She said to me why a doctor, all you ever talk about is the weather."

Tony not only talked about weather a lot growing up, he followed it on TV and yes, NOAA Weather Radio, as well.

"The first meteorologist I remember following was Gordon Barnes on CBS in New York. But, by far Alan Kasper had the greatest influence on me. A meteorologist who used expressions like pattern change and had isobars on a weather map was unheard in the late 70s. When I first met him, in my mind, it was like meeting a rock star. We had no internet when I was in high school, I used to get my up to date weather information listening to NOAA Weather Radio and one of the most distinctive voices on there was meteorologist Tom Grant. Anyone who had a NOAA weather radio would never forget his voice and his distinctive honest way of broadcasting a forecast."

Since Tony works for the National Weather Service, he's not simply "forecasting" the weather. Much more goes into it than that. I asked him about his "typical" day...

"I like the question, because there is no typical day," Tony started. "One of the amazing and best parts of this profession is that no two days, systems, weather patterns, seasons are ever exactly the same. Look at this winter at how atypical of a la nina winter it has been. While there are routines with any desk you are working (short term, long term, warning, hydrology, aviation/marine) every day brings something new, different and a learning experience."

Yes, they have desks for various types of forecasting, including aviation. That lead me to my next question...one where I asked him what was more fun to talk about, IFR or VFR, and whether he could pull it off in twenty words or less.

"VFR means visual flight rules. IFR, which is instrument flight rules, means conditions that are either low ceilings and or low visibilities cause considerable delays and costs to airlines and airport operations. One of the most important routine forecasts we issue are the accurate expectations of ifr conditions. Whoops more than 20 words."

Since he works for the National Weather Service office that handles the Philadelphia, you'd think he'd get a lot of "how much for Philly" type of questions. He does...but there's much, much more to the job than that.

"Even if it is not snowing or sleeting, there are many day to day routine and specialized forecasts that every National Weather Service forecast office issues. Deterministic public forecasts go out seven days, but these include hourly temperature, dew point, wind speed and wind gust forecasts. Quantitative, such as the how much for Philly part, snowfall and ice forecasts are also issued for at least three days in advance. The wind chill factor and heat index forecasts on an hourly basis are issued for up to five days in advance. We issue twice daily fire weather forecasts up to 60 hours in advance and provide on demand spot fire weather forecasts when wildfires occur. We also issue 24 to 30 hour terminal aerodrome forecasts for our area airports and participate daily in conference calls to try to keep air travel as smooth as possible. We also issue marine forecasts such as hourly wind, wave and seas for up to five days in advance. These are just the regularly scheduled products."

There's more...

"When hazardous weather is expected or occurring in addition to the routine products, there are a myriad of short fused, like severe thunderstorm and flash flood, warnings as well as longer fused watches, advisories, warnings such as winter storms, ice storms, blizzards, wind and high wind, dense fog, flood, you get the idea...and statements. We also have the ability to request a spot model forecast for emergency managers in case of hazardous spills or other emergency situations. While not part of forecasting, during quieter times, nearly every meteorologist has focal point duties that they maintain and we also try to keep sharp by forecasting and warning for past events using our weather event simulator work station."

Tony explained what "focal point duties" are by mentioning "education outreach, marine, Skywarn training to name a few."

It's not just a simple "how much for Quakertown" after all.

Tony described his perfect day as "a sunny, dry morning with towering cumulus clouds developing in the afternoon with an evening thunderstorm with a spectacular light show and at least a little rain."

Spoken like a true meteorologist...full of descriptive cloud types. Tony also enjoys golfing and gardening. "I have the gardener’s lament on how the thunderstorms or rain in general always avoid our township," he laments. "I try to “golf” once a week and are always looking for the better “golfing” day on my days off."

Having golfed with Tony a couple of times, his game is far, far superior to mine.

Like everyone we have profiled, I asked Tony about the challenges of forecasting weather in Philadelphia. "Well we just went through it recently, wintry mixed precipitation events. It seems that Philadelphia, or our forecast area in general is never that far removed from the falling as snow/not falling as snow precipitation line. It is vary rare to have pure snow events in winter time without getting some sleet or freezing rain involved, somehow, somewhere. For every hour that we are wrong about precipitation falling as snow, we add or subtract half an inch to an inch of snow to the event. More so on January 26th. Trust me, we hear it pretty loudly when we are wrong."

Tony continued about summer by mentioning "I do not like the 30 percent chance of a thunderstorm forecast. While it does not have the same widespread impact as wintry mixed precipitation events, it's frustrating to not to be able to differentiate the thunderstorm free from the chance of thunderstorm days. We have been working with Kean University to try to differentiate these days better and hopefully further research in the upcoming decade will help the forecasting process further."

Tony's advice to those wishing to become a meteorologist?

"First always keep an open mind going to any forecast situation. As much as possible, do not let personal bias affect your decision making process. Second, be willing to learn from your mistakes instead of rationalizing them. The moment I hit the enter button, I know I am going to be wrong, hopefully not in the first hour. The question becomes do I learn from that mistake, or do I sweep it under the rug or jump to the next event and when a similar situation comes along, repeat the same mistake again."

"As far as meteorology as a profession goes, do not let the pessimists get you down. True, the meteorological job market is tight, but meteorologists are not typewriter repair people. There will always be a need. Ten years from now any meteorologist will not be doing the same job he/she is doing today, the job will evolve, not disappear. Conversely, I would recommend all meteorology majors come close to double majoring in computer science as best as possible. You always do want to have a fall back in case the job opportunities are not geographically or personally good for you once you graduate."