Personal Overview

Mr. Michael Splitt obtained a B.S. in Meteorology at Northern Illinois University in 1986. After working at the National Weather Service in Muskegon, Michigan he headed to graduate school in Oklahoma to continue his studies in meteorology as well as to chase tornadoes. He earned an M.S. in Meteorology (1991) and was certified in secondary science education (1992). As an assistant site scientist for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) Program Southern Great Plains Site in Oklahoma, he focused on instrumentation quality control for an array of sensors including atmospheric soundings systems, surface radiometers, surface flux systems, and water vapor sensors. He also provided weather forecast guidance for intensive observation periods which included aircraft operations. Mr. Splitt transitioned to the University of Utah in 1998 where he worked on what is now known as MesoWest and was part of the weather support team for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He has published in a number of different areas and his diverse research interests include tropical cyclone wind probabilities, air-sea interaction, meteorological aspects of thunderstorms producing transient luminous events such as gigantic jets and terrestrial gamma ray flashes, and pilot reported microbursts.