Student in the Headlights: Scott Myerson by Joel Katz

Ever since elementary school, Scott Myerson has been interested in the weather. So it’s no surprise that in high school, he has turned this interest into a full-time hobby. Instead of the Weather Channel or Channel 5, Scott’s own reports have become Marblehead High School’s leading source for up-to-date weather information. I recently had a conversation with Scott to find out more about this interest.

Joel Katz: How did you become interested in weather?

Scott Myerson: I’ve always been interested in winter weather. When I was younger I would just watch the TV weather people all the time. Especially when a storm was coming, I’d be on the sofa in the morning watching every TV station that broadcasts weather.

JK: What were your thoughts on having virtually no snow this winter?

SM: As a snow lover, I was very disappointed to only get about 10 inches. Although it was quite interesting to see how warm this winter was. It’s only happened about five times in the past hundred years or so, so it’s a good thing to study from.

JK: What’s your take on this week being so warm?

SM: This is probably one of the warmest weeks we’ve ever had for the month of March. It probably has to do with the fact that there’s very little snow cover across the country right now—that allows this type of warmth to overspread.

JK: How do you go about predicting weather patterns?

SM: The government puts out computer models on the internet that I interpret. There are certain models that go up to two weeks, but I generally stay within five days as that is a more accurate time period. I also use analogies from what has happened previously to help predict future weather.

JK: Do you have plans to continue studying weather in the future?

SM: Yes, I plan to go to Lyndon State College and get a degree in meteorology.

JK: Last thing—what should we expect from the weather in the weeks to come?

SM: I think we’re going to go back to normal weather—we shouldn’t expect to see 80’s or 70’s again until later April.

Scott usually puts out a new five-day forecast every couple days, and you can be sure to get his own personal opinions on the weather as well as accurate information. When answering a recent question about the unusually warm weather, Scott had this to say: “There was a good and a bad to the weather we had last week. The good was the free trip to Florida, basically. The bad was that it got most of us thinking it’s nearly summer. It’s March in New England—you have got to expect everything.”

In addition to lunchtime banter Scott has been sharing his weather opinions recently on the internet. He has a Facebook page (“Scott Myerson’s Weather Page”) that has garnered local interest over the past few months, and you can also follow him on his new Twitter account, @snowdude6.