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Job outlook for operational meteorologists in the United States
Are operational meteorologist jobs in demand?
Operational meteorologist job and salary trends over time
Operational meteorologist jobs over time
Operational meteorologist job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 111 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 133 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 121 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 121 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 116 | 0.00% |
Average operational meteorologist salary over time
Operational meteorologist salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $54,170 | $26.04 | +4.6% |
| 2024 | $51,802 | $24.90 | +1.3% |
| 2023 | $51,112 | $24.57 | +2.2% |
| 2022 | $50,004 | $24.04 | --0.4% |
| 2021 | $50,216 | $24.14 | +2.9% |
Operational meteorologist jobs by state
Most common states for operational meteorologists
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 7 | 1% |
| 2 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 5 | 1% |
| 3 | Alaska | 739,795 | 4 | 1% |
| 4 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 4 | 1% |
| 5 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 3 | 1% |
| 6 | Texas | 28,304,596 | 40 | 0% |
| 7 | California | 39,536,653 | 28 | 0% |
| 8 | New York | 19,849,399 | 20 | 0% |
| 9 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 15 | 0% |
| 10 | Missouri | 6,113,532 | 12 | 0% |
| 11 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 11 | 0% |
| 12 | Kentucky | 4,454,189 | 8 | 0% |
| 13 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 7 | 0% |
| 14 | Michigan | 9,962,311 | 7 | 0% |
| 15 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 7 | 0% |
| 16 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 5 | 0% |
| 17 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 4 | 0% |
| 18 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 3 | 0% |
| 19 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 3 | 0% |
| 20 | Mississippi | 2,984,100 | 3 | 0% |
Operational Meteorologist job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of operational meteorologist experts
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Louisiana State University and A&M College
Florida Institute of Technology
Ohio State University
SUNY Stony Brook
University of Georgia
North Carolina A & T State University
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Maryland
University of Washington
TruWeather Solutions
Florida State University
What Operational Meteorologist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Chris Karmosky: Meteorology is a good profession to enter now for several reasons. We are starting to see some of the more severe impacts of climate change come to light, and meteorologists serve a vital role in the protection of life and property during severe weather events. These events include enhanced flooding from ever-stronger rainfall, more intense and frequent hurricanes, water management difficulties due to prolonged severe drought, and the risks posed by sustained heat waves. Meteorologists communicate these risks to both stakeholders and the broader public. At the same time the world is facing these risks, the meteorological community is making great strides with forecast modeling. Nearly all hurricane landfall forecasts have been correct within 50 miles over the last 5 years—this was not true 20 years ago! People entering the field today will be instrumental to incorporating further advances in incorporating artificial intelligence into forecasting. We are certainly not at the point yet where AI can entirely supplant humans at creating weather forecasts. Meteorologists add important local knowledge of the regions they serve, will still need to quality check AI model output, and will still be necessary to collect and synthesize the data that goes into AI and traditional computer models. So it is certainly an exciting time of technological transition.
What will help Operational Meteorologists increase their earning potential?
Dr. Chris Karmosky: A meteorologist will take on a variety of tasks depending on the exact position. Meteorologists are not just the people you see on TV—they work in private sector forecasting, for local, state and federal government, the military, aviation industry, as well as in academia. Typically meteorologists are tasked with some kind of forecasting, using their knowledge of what’s happening in the atmosphere, computer models and increasingly AI algorithms to predict what weather conditions will be. Because weather is ever-changing, these forecasts are updated as new information comes in during the day as well as overnight. Job duties for someone just entering the field may require things like forecast verification (seeing how well past forecasts pan out), using software to produce forecasts of temperature and precipitation over some region of interest, installing and maintaining weather observing equipment, or collecting and analyzing data from ground stations and weather balloons.
Steve Nesbitt
Professor and HeadUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Atmospheric Sciences And Meteorology
What general advice would you give to an Operational Meteorologist?
Steve Nesbitt: The subset of meteorologists that enter the field as Operational and Broadcast Meteorologists may be employed on shift work that leads to working late into the evening, early morning hours, or overnight.
What Operational Meteorologist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Steve Nesbitt: Meteorology is a great career because your work directly benefits society. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2023, the median pay of a meteorologist was $92,860, and the job market in meteorology is expected to grow at a rate of 4% per year. The private sector will continue to hire meteorologists at the highest rates in the next decade, where meteorology skills are often coupled with risk analysis, computation and modeling, communication, and/or data visualization skills.
What will help Operational Meteorologists increase their earning potential?
Steve Nesbitt: Meteorology is a wide-ranging field relating to the prediction of the weather. Operational Meteorologists predict the weather and its impacts on a day-by-day basis, relying on their experience and the analysis of real-time information from their weather observations and forecast models to make and communicate their predictions. A Research Meteorologist may scientifically examine past weather events to understand why, when, and how they occurred in order to improve their prediction and communicate their findings at conferences or in scholarly journals. A Broadcast Meteorologist uses television, radio, or social media to disseminate weather forecasts and warnings. Other careers in meteorology can be in areas such as agrometeorology, hydrometeorology, climate and climate change, data science, risk analysis, and academia.
What general advice would you give to an Operational Meteorologist?
Paul Miller: Students can improve their income potential by being able to brand themselves as more than forecasters. While meteorologists are classically associated with weather prediction, the computer-centric nature of the disciple (i.e., weighing information provided by supercomputer-generated model simulations), students with additional experience accessing and processing the vast amount of digital data within the model files will have a professional and earnings edge. These students may also prove marketable to companies and fields outside of meteorology simply because weather and climate datasets in some ways epitomize the idea of 'big data.'
What Operational Meteorologist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Paul Miller: Computer scripting, data science, and machine learning/AI are either already or poised to become fixtures of meteorological curricula. Because of the increasing importance of these skills, students need to develop them early to maximize their potential for supplementary industry and academic internships later in their undergraduate career. For instance, a student the takes a computer scripting course as a senior in their atmospheric science curriculum will have fewer research and internship opportunities than a student that developed those skills earlier.
What will help Operational Meteorologists increase their earning potential?
Paul Miller: Pursue campus, community, and industry involvement beyond your coursework, especially seeking leadership roles when possible. The best predictor of future success is past performance, so it is important to demonstrate a proactive posture regarding your career. Because most meteorological data in the U.S. are collected and freely disseminated by the federal government, there is high potential to gain exposure and experience with important weather monitoring and forecast systems before entering the job market.
What general advice would you give to an Operational Meteorologist?
Mr. Michael Splitt: Some graduates may prefer to be employed in a specific city but getting your foot in the door or a higher paying job may require you to be available for hire in as broad a region as possible. Some cities have a very large meteorology/atmospheric science community, such as Boulder Colorado, but those types of locations are in the minority. Continue to learn! Your undergraduate career isn’t job training and you will need to apply what you’ve learned in a variety of situations. Continued training, whether on the job or other types of professional training, should be on your radar!
What Operational Meteorologist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Mr. Michael Splitt: Skills in computing will be essential for many meteorology career pathways and include the ever growing influence of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The use of Python programming has exploded in the atmospheric sciences, in particular. Skills in communication, which ranges anywhere from working with team members to providing graphics that communicate an idea, may also grow in importance in the modern age of social media.
What will help Operational Meteorologists increase their earning potential?
Mr. Michael Splitt: Meteorology has many different career pathways and the advice would need to be somewhat different for someone going into broadcast meteorology, operational meteorology, or research (as examples). That said, being flexible, no matter which track you are in, will be beneficial. Be reliable! Be willing to take on new tasks and responsibilities.
What Operational Meteorologist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Man-Yau Chan: There are many kinds of Meteorologists (more on that later). However, there are some things we all do on a daily basis: data analysis and interpretation. Broadly speaking, there are two 'archetypes'. Forecast meteorologists (the first archetype) synthesize data coming out of computer models and weather observations, and their own intuition and experience to make predictions. That intuition and experience are important! Computer models have location-specific deficiencies, and weather observations do not tell you everything you need to know about the weather. An experienced forecast meteorologist's intuition and experience helps to navigate that. Research meteorologists (the second archetype) also analyze and interpret data daily. We work on understanding how the weather works and improving weather forecasts. The two goals are related: we use our understanding of the weather to build and improve the computer models, observations and forecasting techniques. Note that many meteorologists are BOTH forecast and research meteorologists – this is a continuum, so to speak. Meteorologists also have many different specialties. There are hurricane meteorologists, midlatitude thunderstorm (e.g., supercells) meteorologists, air pollution meteorologists, and statistical meteorologists, just to name a few.
What will help Operational Meteorologists increase their earning potential?
Man-Yau Chan: There is an increasing demand for meteorologists because the field itself is growing bigger and more sophisticated. There are now forecasting systems for all sorts of things (e.g., urban pollution forecasting, cloud-cover forecasting for solar power). Every one of those areas needs meteorologists. There are also many places that need meteorologists, especially outside of the National Weather Service! Some exciting examples include the Navy, the Army, the Air Force, utility companies, and the US Department of Agriculture! I would like to highlight my own discipline: statistical meteorology. Statistical meteorologists are increasingly in demand because (1) they are essential for creating the computer systems used to correct weather forecasting, and (2) there are more and more weather forecasting systems. However, there is an undersupply of statistical meteorologists at the moment. In other words, there are many job opportunities!
What general advice would you give to an Operational Meteorologist?
Richard Murdocco: Across any career, it's important for a college graduate to understand the one key skill that they possess that differentiates them from the latest crop of graduates. As a college degree becomes more commonplace, it's become increasingly important for individuals to stand out beyond the fact they received a diploma.
What Operational Meteorologist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Richard Murdocco: It all comes back to what value you can bring to an organization, and demonstrating how your prior successes translate into opportunity if they hire you. Starting out, it's hard to prove worth in this regard - but know the value of your skill set - and be reasonable with your expectations.
What will help Operational Meteorologists increase their earning potential?
Richard Murdocco: Communication - and the ability to convey complex topics to a generalized audience. This skill is universal - but in forecasting and meteorology it's especially important, especially as the National Weather Service looks to enhance their communication of weather risks in the coming years.
What general advice would you give to an Operational Meteorologist?
John Knox: In rough order, from most important and prevalent to still pretty important and prevalent:
- AI/machine learning ability.
- Python programming proficiency.
- Technical writing fluency.
- Ability to learn and keep learning.
- Ability to excel in remote work.
- Understanding of climate change and its effect on weather events, and the social impacts of these events.
- Communication via social media, or whatever comes along to become social media 2.0 (Facebook and Twitter/X having run their course).
- Respect for and ability to communicate with people who are different than you.
- Expertise in boundary-layer meteorology related to renewable energy (e.g., wind and solar).
Note what's not on here: chasing tornadoes. That's a hobby, not a job, except for a very few.
What Operational Meteorologist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
John Knox: Be broadly educated and be proactive in acquiring new skills. Atmospheric sciences is more interdisciplinary every day, so just knowing about the weather isn't nearly enough. Most employers in our field will say that their employees' weakest links are in communication, both oral and written. So it's not just about knowing the details of weather forecasting, for example; it's about communicating clearly so that others can act appropriately on that knowledge. And weather is not the biggest component of our field; climate is.
What will help Operational Meteorologists increase their earning potential?
John Knox: Atmospheric science is not a field to get rich in, generally speaking. First-year salaries for B.S. recipients are low for a STEM field. I have done research to document/disseminate this information, and to put numbers on it (e.g., see https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/104/1/BAMS-D-22-0162.1.xml). B.S. recipients circa 2020 were edging toward $40,000 field-wide, according to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard, which is a fascinating but underused source of information for all fields. Three years in, it's more like $50,000 or a little more. With inflation and low unemployment, these numbers are likely higher in 2024, but not by a whole lot. People with M.S. degrees make more, and more employers outside of broadcast meteorology are preferring M.S. recipients. The lowest starting salaries are often found in the private sector, especially TV and weather forecasting, but you can also find private-sector jobs in/near atmospheric science that are among the best-paying. Somewhere in the upper-middle of the range of starting salaries is employment in the National Weather Service, which comes with the advantages and disadvantages of being a federal employee in a shift-work environment.
Climate-related jobs are becoming more and more common, but I don't yet have a clear sense of the pay in those. Often higher degrees are needed in climate, as well as a diverse education and skillset.
You can eventually live comfortably enough as an atmospheric scientist, but not right out of school, and it's less likely with just a B.S. unless you're hired by the federal government. I tell students what I heard a long time ago from a CEO in our field: if doctors put the same low price tag on their expertise that people in meteorology do, doctors would live in shacks, not mansions. But most people attracted to our field have a sense of calling to it and also a strong interest in service to the public, and so we're usually more satisfied than those in higher-paying professions.
Gary Lackmann PhD
Professor and Interim Department HeadNorth Carolina A & T State University
Atmospheric Sciences And Meteorology
What general advice would you give to an Operational Meteorologist?
Gary Lackmann PhD: Be adaptable and willing to move, both geographically and topically. Continue building and developing your skill sets. Network, use LinkedIn, develop mentoring relationships and maintain them, because you will always need them.
What Operational Meteorologist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Gary Lackmann PhD: Communication is one area. The ability to communicate scientific information to non-scientific audiences is increasingly important. Also coding, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and generally 'data science' skills are increasingly relevant.
What will help Operational Meteorologists increase their earning potential?
Gary Lackmann PhD: Be flexible and open-minded about career options and directions. There are many non-traditional areas that are hiring meteorologists and atmospheric scientists, and the keywords in job searches reflect these diverse areas. Also, be prepared to continue learning and adapting as rapidly changing technologies transform our profession.
Robert Rauber Ph.D.
DirectorUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
School of Earth, Society & Environment
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Operational Meteorologists?
Robert Rauber Ph.D.: Yes. We will not return to the same "normal". I suspect that a lot of companies and possibly even government agencies will reconsider the value of letting employees work from home. we have learned as a society that work from home is more efficient (no lost time for commuting, easy to communicate with colleagues electronically, greater ease for employees with children etc.). To the degree this is implemented, this will be a major change for individuals and society. Secondly, the need for travel will be greatly reduced. Meetings that once required an employee to travel one day, meet one day, and travel home the third day will be reduced to a one-hour Zoom meeting, again increasing efficiency and saving companies/universities/government agencies a ton of money.
What's a day at work look like for an Operational Meteorologist?
Robert Rauber Ph.D.: I think a day at work will more often be a day at home. More people will work from home because it is more efficient as I noted above. For those who go to work away from home, I don't think much will change. They will be "zooming" more and traveling less.
What technical skills for an Operational Meteorologist stand out to employers?
Robert Rauber Ph.D.: Employers also look for employees who can communicate well both orally and in writing. Of course, technical expertise in their discipline (e.g. atmospheric science) is important.
Dr. Robert Trapp
Professor, HeadUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Operational Meteorologists?
Dr. Robert Trapp: It's likely that there will be an enduring impact, but it's difficult to know exactly what it will be. Obviously, the financial strain on some companies has prevented them to hire new employees. However, we're still seeing advertisements and announcements for jobs within all sectors: there's still a demand for expertise in weather and climate prediction, for example.
What's a day at work look like for an Operational Meteorologist?
Dr. Robert Trapp: I've heard from some recent graduates employed in the private sector who are still working remotely. So, lots of virtual meetings instead of face-to-face meetings. Recent graduates employed in the National Weather Service are experiencing a more "normal", in-office work day, which involves generation and communication of weather forecasts, and monitoring of weather hazards and issuances of relevant warnings.
What technical skills for an Operational Meteorologist stand out to employers?
Dr. Robert Trapp: Here are two technical skills that apply particularly to the private and government-research sectors: Proficiency in the use of Python and/or R to mine weather and climate datasets for relationships between weather/climate variables. Ability to configure and run weather and climate prediction models.
What skills stand out on Operational Meteorologist resumes?
Sumant Nigam: I would think that a resume that conveys strong analytical aptitude and excellent, concise writing skills would be attractive. Our field requires quantitative skills, including mathematical modeling and data analytics, which would be a big plus.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Operational Meteorologists to find work opportunities?
Sumant Nigam: It depends both on the graduation level (MS or Ph.D.) and one's expertise. MS students seeking cutting-edge research experience will find ecosystems around large federal laboratories, wherever they are located. Washington DC area and Boulder come readily to mind. I don't believe private sector employment for MS and Ph.D. graduates is as geographically concentrated.
Will there be an increase or decrease in demand for Operational Meteorologists in the next 5 years?
Gregory Hakim: Increase. Between climate change, weather forecasting, and new developments in S2S forecasting, atmospheric sciences is a growth industry.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Operational Meteorologists in the next 3-5 years?
Gregory Hakim: Statistical post-processing of model simulation data and cheap emulators of those models. "Machine learning" is the recent buzzword for this technology that has been growing in our field for a long time.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Operational Meteorologist job market given the pandemic?
Don Berchoff: The Meteorology and Atmospheric Science job market is bright, especially if you have ancillary or secondary skill sets in software engineering, analytics, machine learning, risk management and actuary, and running weather applications and models in the clouds. The private sector market for weather services will grow in size and importance with the introduction of self-driving cars and unmanned piloted air taxis and drones. The more secondary skills scientists have, the more opportunities for jobs and salary growth. Society and businesses are becoming more weather sensitive writ large with high density population centers, autonomy, etc. and this is good for our future job prospects.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Operational Meteorologists in the next 3-5 years?
Don Berchoff: Innovative and scalable weather sensor technology to close micro-weather measurement gaps in lowest 3,000 feet of the atmosphere, IoT sensors, that may not provide the most pristine weather data, but contribute to closing operational weather measurement gaps, introduction of quantum computing, more efficient high performance cloud computing, and very sophisticated artificial intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms and tools.
How do you envision technology impacting Operational Meteorologists in the next 5 years?
Shel McGuire: Since I work as an academic advisor who has a degree in Career Counseling, I mostly work with the students to complete the coursework and to find ways to gain skills that are needed in their field. The students will often take extra coursework in computer science, graphical information systems, and emergency management to complement their degree in meteorology. Computers are definitely used a lot in meteorology, and I am sure advances in computer systems and the ability to manage and collect data will impact the field, but since I am not a meteorologist, it is hard for me to say.