User:Runningonbrains

I never get sad when people abandon Wikipedia. It probably means they got a girlfriend.

My policies, beliefs, and principles

This user is an administrator on the English Wikipedia. (verify)

This week in weather history...

September 26

1881: The first and deadliest recorded tornado in Japanese history killed 16 people in Miyazaki, Miyazaki Prefecture.

September 27

1991: Typhoon Mireille struck southern Japan, causing several billion dollars in damage.

September 28

1917: A major hurricane made landfall near Fort Walton Beach, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 km/h)). This was the strongest hurricane to impact the Florida Panhandle until Hurricane Opal almost 80 years later.

September 29

1915: A major hurricane struck New Orleans area, killing at least 275 people in the city and surrounding area.

September 30

2012: Hurricane Nadine, the fourth-longest-lived tropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic Ocean, reached peak intensity west of the Azores.

October 1

2015: Several days of heavy rains led to a major landslide which destroyed the village of El Cambray Dos, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of Guatemala City, Guatemala. At least 280 people were killed.

October 2

1989: Typhoon Brian made landfall in Hainan in southern China, damaging 185,000 homes and killing 40 people.




No situation needs the drama that humans bring to it.

I'm actually a really nice person. If you disagree with something I have done, I will be willing to discuss and reconsider my actions. I do not tolerate assuming bad faith or being overly harsh to new editors. But I am also slow to block and quick to forgive honest mistakes.


Essays

      — See all my essays

My academic background

To-do: (completed tasks)

I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the spring of 2008. I completed my Major Qualifying Project around the same time: a search for sand dune movement on Mars. I hope to turn it into an article at some point (see User:Runningonbrains/Aeolian processes on Mars if you'd like to help).

My main interest, however, is in meteorology, and I do a lot of research on the topic. At Texas A&M University I received my Master of Science in atmospheric science in August of 2011. My research involved baroclinic waves the Martian atmosphere, and my results were published in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

I currently work as an Associate Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), working in the Research Applications Laboratory. I work on a bunch of different projects, including work on the operational NWP models, HRRR and GFS-FV3.

As far as my time on Wikipedia, my contributions will mainly be towards meteorology articles (especially tornadoes and other meso- to microscale phenomena), Mars, computer modeling and related subjects. I am the primary maintainer of Portal:Weather, however, I am currently fairly inactive due to my continuing adult responsibilities and recreations. I may become more active one of these days, but I'm probably kidding myself: there's too many things to do in this world that don't involve sitting behind a computer.

Here's what I've done:

What I do/Who I am:
Trout this userWere this admin to act in a foolish, trollish, or dickish way, they are open to being slapped with a large trout.
This user has a sense of humor.
This user actively participates in WikiProject Severe weather.
This user is a member of WikiProject Meteorology.
This user participates in
WikiProject Tropical cyclones.
This user is a newpage and recent changes patroller.
This editor is a Veteran Editor IV and is entitled to display this Gold Editor Star.
21,000 This user has made more than 21,000 edits.
WPIThis user attends or attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
This user is a SKYWARN spotter.
vn-4This user page has been vandalized 4 times.
rvb This user is a Red vs. Blue fanatic.
This user has written or expanded 11 articles featured in the Did You Know section on the Main Page.
This user has helped promote 4 good articles on Wikipedia.
This user has written or significantly contributed to 2 Featured articles on Wikipedia.


This user has written or significantly contributed to featured list on Wikipedia.
FPCs needing feedback


Lesser yellowlegs


History of Cuba/2


History of ancient Israel and Judah/2


History of Slovenia/2


Yellow-Red-Blue
My first two major projects

Tornado articles

During and after my project to improve Tornado, I created a long list of tornado-related articles.

Working on these

Tornado lists

Later on, I began a very ambitious effort to make a series of nation-wide lists of tornadoes by state (currently, I've only done two + DC)

Working on these

Big surprise, more weather-related articles!

Articles re-written


WikiProjects

Was highly active in restarting WikiProject Meteorology, and created a new sub-project WikiProject Severe Weather.

Portals

Overhauled the Weather Portal, eventually improving it into a Featured Portal. I am currently actively maintaining this portal.

Milestones

Other Contributions

Gallery of my images

Recognition for accomplishments

All contributions...

Works in progress

Me

I have witnessed a few major storms, including one of the most intense tornadoes ever observed near El Reno, Oklahoma on May 24, 2011.

So, about me, huh?

As I said, I have a BS in Physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After graduating, I attended Western Connecticut State University part-time for a year, taking atmospheric/oceanic science courses, before transferring to Texas A&M University's atmospheric science program. I graduated with a MS in atmospheric science in 2011, and in 2012 got a job at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. I've been obsessed with nature, especially meteorology, since I was very young. My first storm experience was in utero, when my mom was in the eye of Hurricane Gloria. At 10 a tornado skipped over my house, downing several trees in my back yard. Among my craziest childhood experiences were sitting outside with a -40ºF wind chill to watch blowing snow, climbing a mountain during a Nor'easter with 60 mph winds at the top, and getting caught in a hailstorm which formed right on top of me. As an adult, I now am lucky enough to live right next to tornado alley, and have been on dozens of storm chases that have yielded so many tornadoes I have lost count.

I also enjoy skiing, hiking, camping, and rock climbing.

Hopefully, someday, I'll get to sit through a good hurricane.

My randonimity*

*No, randonimity is not a word, but it sounds cool