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If you're interested in global warming or El Nino, perhaps a career in climatology is in your future.

David Phillips is a senior climatologist with a government agency. Phillips is called a weather ambassador because he is an advisor on climate applications and services to the United Nation's World Meteorological Organization.

Phillips loves weather. "I even have a dog named Winston the Weather Dog," he says with a laugh.

Phillips has been on the job for 35 years. He appears regularly on television and radio shows. He has also written six books about climate.

Phillips didn't start out wanting to work with weather. After getting an undergraduate degree in geography, he took a job with a government agency that deals with weather. "I called myself a geographer -- not a climatologist."

In the beginning, Phillips worked as a research scientist studying how the Great Lakes affect the weather and vice versa.

"My employer encouraged me to further my education," he says. "I acquired a master's degree by studying at night."

Phillips calls himself a weather historian. "I don't conduct research. I read the scientific literature and interpret it in a way that the public can be entertained and learn from it."

Suppose you want to inform people that a tornado is coming. "You want to give them an edge that will make them smile," he says. "Then you hit them with the safety tip that will save their lives."

Phillips enjoys knowing that he helps people make decisions that can change lives. "It is a rewarding occupation."

Days are chaotic. When the phone rings, Phillips must deal with whatever lands on his plate. There could be media interviews or a film shoot. He might be reading research documents, writing or preparing a speech for a service club or conference.

"I almost feel guilty because I love my job so much," he says.

Phillips thinks climatology is a blossoming field. He advises students to study a broad range of sciences and mathematics and to develop communication skills.

Edward J. Hopkins agrees. He is a lecturer and weather education consultant at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He also does work for the Wisconsin State Climatology Office.

Hopkins advises would-be climatologists to learn public speaking or to study broadcasting.

Hopkins first studied chemistry, then meteorology. He became interested in long-term climate effects. "My PhD research involved the long-term variations of solar radiance," he says.

Hopkins and a colleague are writing a book on weather and climate. "It's very exciting. This is the highlight of my career," he says.

Hopkins also teaches a distance-learning course for teachers. "Part of my day is spent on that, and the other part I spend answering questions concerning climate."

Hopkins looks up answers to questions such as whether a tornado went through an area in the 1920s, or how often it snows in a location. "It's satisfying to know your information was useful."

Hopkins believes that there is a growing interest in climatology. However, he can't predict how much work will be available.

"It's fraught with danger if you limit yourself to climatology classes," he warns. "Study science and math, and learn computer programming languages. You need to be able to write programs to solve research issues.

"There are not many jobs that are pure climatology, especially for those without a doctorate," he says.

"There aren't a lot of journeymen jobs where you are doing strict climatology," agrees David Robinson. He is the New Jersey State Climatologist. "Most of us have PhDs, and our assistants are computer scientists."

Robinson is known as "The Snowman" because he specializes in snow coverage.

The Snowman has loved weather since he was a child. He began keeping weather records in Grade 4. Still, Robinson's career developed through what he calls a "circuitous route."

In college, he discovered that he was a scientist at heart. While majoring in geology, he assembled 80 years of climate data for his hometown. "I had this underlying interest in the weather and climate," he recalls.

The study of geology translated into a summer job at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbus University. Returning to college at summer's end, Robinson did a project on Arctic sea ice. "I was becoming a climatologist without realizing it," he says with a laugh.

While Robinson was doing post-doctoral research, a job opened up at Rutgers for a geographer. "I applied, and the rest is history," he says. "Then, 11 years ago, I was appointed New Jersey State climatologist.

"I'm a climatologist in a geography department with a major in geology," he says.

Robinson has many responsibilities. Giving interviews to the media takes up a lot of time. He gave 400 interviews in the first 10 months of 2002. "When we had a big snowstorm, I gave 18 interviews in one day!"

Like many other climatologists, Robinson does 100 things at once. Much of it involves research, data archival and dissemination. "I address everything from slip and fall accidents to people who are studying turtle migration," he says.

"Being busy like this isn't unusual, but it's a little crazy. Academics tend to be self-motivated."

Pam Knox is the assistant state climatologist in the Georgia State Climatology Office. She has been involved in climatology since 1980. Knox first became interested in weather when she witnessed a tornado as a little girl.

As an undergrad, she had a double major in math and physics. She switched to meteorology at graduate school. Afterwards, she taught school and then worked for the National Weather Service headquarters. "I studied heavy rainfall events, like 100-year floods," she says.

Knox describes her role as a combination of scientist and librarian. She takes scientific information and communicates it to the public. "I need a wide range of knowledge and I do a lot of different things at once."

Knox answers phone calls and e-mails and talks to the media. Questions can be anything from people planning weddings to government contacts needing data.

Some questions are easy. She can find the information from Internet databases. Other times, she might have to do more work. "The question is knowing where to look," she says.

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