As a meteorology major at SUNY Oswego, I had to take around 10 different math classes.
Ranging from calculus I-III, differential equations, and trigonometry, my days were often spent summing integrals rather than summing the number of parties that I would be attending š
Meteorology is a demanding major and not for the faint of heartā¦ or party animal!
The atmosphere is a complex and dynamic system governed by physical principles and mathematical relationships. In order to successfully graduate and become a meteorologist, a foundational understanding of this information is critical.
In order to graduate with a math minor, I only needed to take two additional math classes beyond what was required for meteorology, so I said what the heckā¦
One of those classes was statistics. While I canāt say I use calculus to arrive at my forecasts, I can say that I commonly apply statistical techniques to uncover trends in meteorological data and add some historical climate context to my write-ups.
This information can be quite powerful ā past weather data over many years can be used to tell a story, particularly since Mother Nature likes to repeat herself!
In this short blog, Iāll show you how I used 8 decadesā worth of historical snowfall data to uncover the peaks-and-valleys of snowfall potential for this winter āļø
