NWS Melbourne, Fla. Meteorologist-in-Charge Bart Hagemeyer (Photo: WFO Melbourne)
(Feb. 10, 2011) -- The Council of the American Meteorological Society has elected Bart Hagemeyer, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service forecast office in Melbourne, Fla. as a Fellow of the Society. The formal announcement was made during the Society's 91st Annual Review and Fellows Award ceremony at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle on January 26.
"Only two-tenths of one percent of the membership are approved as a Fellow each year," said AMS Executive Director Keith Seitter. "Election to the grade of Fellow serves as recognition of outstanding contributions to the atmospheric or related oceanic or hydrologic sciences, or their applications, during a substantial period of years."
Prior to joining the National Weather Service, Hagemeyer served in the U.S. Air Force as a Combat Weather Specialist supporting the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division (1975 - 1977) and as a Dropsonde Systems Operator with the 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron in Guam (1977 - 1980) where he flew into 34 typhoons.
He launched his National Weather Service career as a Meteorological Technician at the Weather Service Office in Indianapolis in 1981.
He spent the next eight years at the Weather Service Office in Columbia, Mo. where he rose to the position of Meteorologist-in-Charge. In 1989, he was selected as Meteorologist-in-Charge of the new Weather Forecast Office in Melbourne. It was the first new office created as part of the National Weather Service modernization and restructuring program and the site of the second operational WSR-88D radar system.
Under his leadership, the Melbourne office has consistently remained on the cutting edge of warning and forecast operations. The office conducted extensive research on Florida's hazardous weather and developed procedures to leverage the emerging NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar) technology to support collaborative opportunities with the nearby Kennedy Space Center.
Hagemeyer's collaborative work with NASA and Department of Defense scientists has also led to ground-breaking research which significantly improved the accuracy of hazardous weather forecasts.
In addition to his membership in the American Meteorological Society, Hagemeyer is a member of the National Weather Association and the author of numerous scientific publications and technical memoranda. Awards for Hagemeyer and his Melbourne team include the NASA Group Achievement Award, NOAA Unit Citation, NWS Modernization Awards, Commerce department's Gold Medal Award, NWA Group Operational Achievement Award, AMS Award for Specific Prediction and a NOAA Administrator's Award for Scientific Leadership.
In 2005, he also received the American Meteorological Society's prestigious Francis W. Reichelderfer Award for distinguished environmental services to the nation.