What Is Meteorology

What Is Meteorology & What Does a Meteorologist Do?
The word meteorology is made up of two parts. The first part of the word "meteoros" is Greek and means, "lofty" or "high up in the air". The "ology" on the end of the word means "study" or "the study of". Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere and atmospheric processes.

Meteorologists are individuals who have studied the atmosphere in great detail. The most commonly known meteorologists work on television. These meteorologists are well known for forecasting weather for the next few days. They can also forecast weather trends years into the future.

Perhaps less well known is the work meteorologists perform studying current problems such as pollution and the hole in the ozone layer. Meteorologists are a very important part of the community.

Not every meteorologist works on television. Meteorologists can work for many different types of organizations. Airports, the military, National Weather Service, colleges, agricultural businesses, construction companies and many other organizations hire meteorologists. Meteorologists even study the damage caused to the atmosphere by pollution.

Not every weather person is a meteorologist. In order to be called a meteorologist, an individual must take several college courses in math, physics and meteorology.