Read the skies with Blair's Meteorology Club

Meteorology Club Slide

Photo: A slide from one of Meteorology Club's meetings.

A slide from one of Meteorology Club's meetings. Photo courtesy of Jason Youm.

The winter weather this year has been relentless for Blair students. Instead of the usual mix of cold spells and mild days, temperatures have stayed freezing. For many Blair students, however, this winter has been more of a win than an inconvenience. Snow days mean extra sleep and the chance to enjoy the outdoors — whether that means sledding, building snowmen, or taking an impromptu trip to a ski resort. While most people are refreshing their phones for the latest MoCoSnow updates, a club at Blair is taking it one step further and actually trying to predict the snow days before anyone else does. 

How it started 

Meteorology, contrary to its name, is not the study of meteors — but rather, the study of the atmosphere and weather, and things that go on in the sky above us. The club, started by senior Jason Youm, is all about understanding the weather behind the forecast. 

The premise of the club isn’t exactly new. There used to be a weather club at Blair before, but it fizzled out after the original leaders graduated. Youm found out about the formerly-defunct club during his sophomore year and decided to bring it back. “Given that there was a club beforehand, I thought that there’d surely be some people interested in the topic,” he explains, and he was right! 

Through advertising on social media and at the club fair, the Meteorology Club was established two years ago and is a hit amongst Blazers. “To be honest, I had zero interest in meteorology,” says junior Chaewoon Kyoung. “But after going to the club, I actually started taking the Advanced Earth and Space Science class.” 

A typical meeting 

So, what actually happens in a club meeting? Well, it’s a mix of a lot of things: discussions about weather phenomena, presentations of current forecasts, and various fun activities. Some meetings are more lecture style, focusing on specific topics like how blizzards form or how weather patterns move across the United States, while others focus on analyzing local weather — especially during the snow season.

Jason described a recent meeting that took place after several snow days. “We… briefly recapped some of the snow we got and the totals across the area,” he explains. “We talked a little bit about why the snow was pretty heavy… and discussed some things that could indicate more snow coming up in the future.” Junior Tony Song found the meeting to be especially interesting because of how it dove deeper into the snow patterns. “It’s really fascinating because you get to understand what’s exactly causing all of this snow to form,” he says. 

But it’s not all weather models and analyzing data. The club also keeps things fun with games like Kahoot, short weather documentaries, and even challenges to predict the weather! One club favorite was their Christmas temperature prediction contest, where members guessed the temperature for Christmas Day weeks in advance. “We sent out a Google Form… [and] people could put in their predictions, and then we went over everyone’s results after Christmas,” Youm says. 

Why has the winter been so wacky? 

This weather didn’t randomly decide to flare up: there’s science to back up the cold streak we’ve had. According to Youm, a large part of this winter’s increased snow and cold can be attributed to something called the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). “The MJO is a global pattern that affects atmospheric circulation,” he explains. “We’ve had a lot of rising air over our area recently, which leads to more precipitation — hence, all the snow.”

And after five winters of below-average snowfall, we were long overdue for a season with more-than-average precipitation. The perfect combination of atmospheric conditions, colder-than-usual temperatures, and a tiny bit of luck led us to the heavy snowfall we’ve seen this season. 

Looking ahead

Even though Youm is graduating this year, the club isn’t slowing down. Junior Evan Zhang will be taking over leadership next year, and there are exciting plans in the works. “One thing that we’ve been thinking about is setting up a weather station on Blair’s roof,” Youm says.

The weather station for Silver Spring is quite far from Blair, and thus, the forecasts can sometimes be inaccurate for the school itself. A weather station on Blair’s roof would provide precise real-time data, giving Blazers more accurate campus weather updates. 

The Meteorology Club meets every other Monday during the second half of lunch in room 325. Whether you’re into weather science or just want the latest news about the next snow day prediction, drop by and take a look! 

Note: Youm is a member of the Esquina Latina publication