AccuWeather Expert Blows Away Upper School

Students in Climate Science and Environmental Justice were “blown away” by Brad Tyson, a senior product manager at AccuWeather. A meteorologist by training, Tyson discussed his work at AccuWeather and explained weather events unique to Chicago.

Tyson told the story of how he came to his current position. He went from being a “weather weenie” at Penn State to a job at The Weather Channel, then to a location and data platform followed by his current position at AccuWeather, where he is working on news alerts that could have a major impact on the general population.

The development of these alerts is to make people aware of weather in their area that requires immediate attention—from extreme events such as tornadoes and hurricanes to hail and intense weather shifts. A similar service for business once alerted two trains to stop due to an incoming tornado, and within minutes, the train operators saw the tornado come through the location where their trains would have been had they not received the alert.

Tyson then explained major weather occurrences that directly affect Chicago, such as lake effect snow, seiches and back-door cold fronts. These situations and Chicago’s unique location near Lake Michigan make it a place worth studying, especially as conditions continue to shift due to the effects of climate change.

Students questioned Tyson about a wide variety of topics, including his work with machine learning, the ethics of geolocation data, ways of determining the level of weather peril and equity in sharing weather information.

Hearing from experts such as Tyson allows students to connect curriculum to real-world application, understand different perspectives and challenge ideas through questions and respectful discourse.

Click here for photos of this visit.