The
State Climatologist program was orphaned by the Federal Government in 1973 during budget reductions in that recession. Since that time, every state has reestablished their State Climatologist, with Pennsylvania finally filling this vacancy after more than two decades. In cooperation with the National Weather Service's Central Pennsylvania Forecast Office and the National Climate Data Center (Asheville, NC), the Pennsylvania State Climatologist will be providing detailed climatic information, primarily for Pennsylvania in a timely manner. Some national and international climatic data is also available. Since more than twenty years have passed since this office lastserved Pennsylvanians, some data is more readily available than others. It is the goal of this office to connect you with the best data source as quickly as possible (including occasional direction to sources outside of this office). This page is ever evolving, so watch for updates and new products that will be available through the Pennsylvania State Climatologist.Our Staff
Paul Knight, Pennsylvania State Climatologist
Paul Knight has been the Pennsylvania State Climatologist since 1994. He is also a senior lecturer of synoptic meteorology at Penn State University. He teaches courses in Weather Prediction, Mesoscale Forecasting, Mesoscale Topics, Forensic Meteorology and Weather Communications. His research interest lies in pattern recognition and its application to artificial intelligence in forecasting significant weather events. Paul has been a senior forecaster for The New York Times since 1986. He, along with four other colleagues, produces the weather page for the Times each day. Paul has also been the producer, co-host and on-camera meteorologist for WPSU-TV's Weather World, a fifteen minute, weeknight weather magazine show seen on Pennsylvania PBS stations since 1983 and since 2004 on PCN.
Paul was a team forecaster for Wyoming Centennial Expedition to Mount Everest. He was co-chairman of the National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest for six years. Paul holds the American Meteorological Society's and National Weather Association's Television Seal of Approval and is a certified consulting meteorologist and is the current president of the American Association of State Climatologists. He received the Wilson Award in 1994, the highest teaching award for the College of Earth & Mineral Sciences at Penn State, the AMS Broadcast award and Pennsylvania Broadcaster of the Year award both in 2003. He has been quoted in more than 100 newspapers and magazines, including National Geographic and has appeared on ABC, CBS and NBC national news as well as FOX News.
Paul lives in State College with his wife, both his children attended Penn State.
Chad Bahrmann, System Analyst and Manager
Chad Bahrmann began working with the Pennsylvania State Climate Office during the summer of 2003. Chad is currently a Research Assistant in the Department of Meteorology at Penn State University. Prior to moving to State College Chad was a Research Associate for the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies at the University of Oklahoma from 1997-2002. While at the University of Oklahoma Chad served as the Associate Site Scientist for the Dept. of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains Site. It was in this position that Chad gained extensive experience in data acquisition, storage, and quality assurance/control procedures. Chad brings this knowledge to the Pennsylvania State Climate Office where his primary responsibilities will be as a System Analyst and Manager.
Chad grew up in Schenectady, NY but has spent significant amounts of time living in Raleigh, NC Ponca City, OK and Norman, OK while pursuing his academic and post academic goals.
Chad has a B.S. in Meteorology from the State University of New York College at Oneonta and an M.S. in Atmospheric Science from North Carolina State University.
Sonya Miller, Projects Assistant
Sonya Miller joined the Climate Office in September 2005. She currently works on several projects within the Climate Office and the Penn State Department of Meteorology.
Prior to moving to Pennsylvania, Sonya spent 7 years working in the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, where she helped develop global coupled climate models.
Sonya was raised in Cary, North Carolina. She has a B.S. in Meteorology from Penn State and a M.S. in Meteorology from Florida State. Sonya and her husband currently reside in State College.
Tiffany Wisniewski, Database Manager
Tiffany Wisniewski joined the Pennsylvania State Climate Office in May 2008. Tiffany is currently a Research Assistant in the Department of Meteorology at Pennsylvania State University. Tiffany's responsibilities include managing databases, assuring the quality of the data, and managing the web interface.
Prior to joining the Climate Office team, Tiffany focused on air quality meteorology and assisted in producing air quality forecasts for the mid-Atlantic region and greater Philadelphia area.
Tiffany was born and raised in Pennsylvania. Currently, she resides in State College, but her hometown is Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. While at Penn State, Tiffany majored in Meteorology and minored in Global Business Strategies. She earned a B.S. in Meteorology.
Fall 2008 Climate Office Helpers
Climate Office, Fall 2005 and Spring 2006
Alexis Phillips (left) and Julie Malingowski (right) receive the ZedX Weather Information Technology Award for their contributions to the Pennsylvania State Climate Office at the 37th Annual Penn State Department of Meteorology Spring Banquet held on April 18th, 2006.
At the end of the 2006 Spring semester, the Climate Office staff enjoyed lunch in downtown State College at The Sports Cafe. Here, Katie LaBelle, Joey Mays, and Alexis Phillips patiently wait for their food.
Julie Malingowski embraces the photo opportunity and is flanked by Sonya Miller and Steven Greybush.
A candid Paul Knight and Chad Bahrmann enjoy some social time with the Climate Office assistants.
