Dr. Alan Black's Journey: How Weather Became the Catalyst for His Work at SIUE

For SIUE associate professor Dr. Alan Black, weather is both a subject to study and a way to help people better understand the conditions around them.

Black teaches several classes at SIUE, including introductory meteorology, which introduces students to the fundamentals of the atmosphere and a broad range of weather-related topics.

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“Students sometimes come into that class without much knowledge about weather, so we try to give them a foundation and introduce a wide range of topics,” Black said. “We talk about temperatures, moisture, how clouds and precipitation form, severe weather, hurricanes and climate change. We really just scratch the surface of a lot of different subjects.”

Black joined SIUE in August 2018 and is a member of the university’s geography department. He also serves as director of the master’s program in geography.

Students with a deeper interest in weather can take advanced courses in forecasting and climatology.

“Students who are especially interested in weather can take more advanced classes,” Black said. “We get into some of the nuts and bolts of weather forecasting, and they learn more about climatology and the climates of the world.”

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Black also teaches courses in climatology, weather forecasting, meteorology and atmospheric hazards. Every other summer, he leads a storm-chasing class.

Teaching is only part of his work at SIUE. A major portion of Black’s career is devoted to research on how extreme weather affects people, particularly those traveling by road.

“Broadly speaking, I study how people are affected by extreme weather events,” Black said. “A lot of my work focuses on transportation and how travel is affected by rain, snow or severe weather, particularly when people encounter those conditions while driving.”

Black’s interest in meteorology began when he was an undergraduate student. An introductory course changed the direction of his career.

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“I took an introductory meteorology course as an undergraduate, and when I took that class, I realized this was what I really needed to do,” Black said. “I was just going to have to figure out how to get through the math. It wasn’t easy, but I made it.”

That experience also helped shape Black’s approach to teaching.

“That is one reason I love teaching the introductory weather course,” he said. “The person who taught that class when I was an undergraduate inspired me to follow the path I’m on now.”

Black said the science of meteorology has changed significantly since his days as a student, particularly because of improvements in radar technology and weather modeling.

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“We have much better radar now, so we’re able to detect storms far better than we could in the past,” Black said. “Doppler radar existed when I was an undergraduate, but there have been so many upgrades since then that it is almost like a new system.”

Computing power also has made weather models more accurate.

“The biggest change has been weather modeling,” Black said. “Computing power has increased so much that weather models are far better than they used to be.”

Black said some models can now forecast individual storms — a development that would have seemed out of reach when he was in college roughly 20 years ago.

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“That was something we dreamed about when I was an undergraduate,” he said.

The growth of the internet and social media also has changed how meteorologists and storm chasers access and share information.

“Access to information has also changed dramatically,” Black said. “Today, you can pull up a radar image on the phone in your pocket.”

That accessibility stands in sharp contrast to the experience of storm chasing two decades ago.

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“When people were storm chasing 20 years ago, they were lucky if they could stop somewhere with Wi-Fi and download information,” Black said. “You might have had to run into a library, get on the internet and try to find a radar image. It was a completely different experience.”

Temperatures in Edwardsville are expected to return to the 90s Aug. 9-11 before a cold front brings cooler conditions later in the week, according to Weather.com.

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Highs are forecast in the low to mid-90s through Aug. 11 before falling into the low to mid-80s for the remainder of the period, with temperatures expected to be around 80 degrees Aug. 13-15.

The greatest rain chances are expected Aug. 12-14. There is a 55% chance of morning showers Aug. 12, followed by a 66% chance of thunderstorms Aug. 13 and a 41% chance of isolated thunderstorms Aug. 14.

Matt Kamp is the sports editor of the Edwardsville Intelligencer. He has been with the newspaper since 2010, serving in multiple roles, including as sports editor since 2013. Kamp has won multiple awards from the Illinois Press Association, is a member of the IBCA Hall of Fame, and is a recipient of a Special Recognition Award from the Edwardsville High School Athletic Hall of Fame.