SEPTEMBER 2000
GRAD IS TOP HURICANNE FORECASTER
By Bayard Stern
Managing editor, Florida State Times
With 30 years of weather forecasting and a degree from Florida State in meteorology, Max Mayfield is ready to lead the nation's defense against hurricanes.
His job, as the director of the National Hurricane Center, is to improve the warning lead times and increase the center's understanding of the tracks and intensity of hurricanes.
"The important thing for us is the hurricanes that make landfall and the severity of that," Mayfield said. "We are fortunate to have excellent technology such as satellites, aircraft reconnaissance, radars and computer models to help us predict the path of a hurricane.
"But we really haven't done our job, even if we make an accurate forecast, if we don't communicate that forecast, and the uncertainty of that forecast, to the decision makers and the public."
A native of Oklahoma with a mathematics degree from the University of Oklahoma, Mayfield arrrived at the National Weather Service in 1972 with two years' experience forecasting weather for the Air Force. He signed up as a meteorologist and has been at it ever since, pausing only to get a master's degree in meteorology from FSU - and become a hurricane specialist - in 1987.
He joins other FSU graduates who have been prominent in meteorology, citing the well known example of Neil Frank, who had a doctorate from FSU and became a familiar face and voice on television screens whenever hurricanes threatened.
"Some of the best times of my life were my years at FSU," Mayfield said. "I feel privileged to have studied under Noel LaSeur and Dr. (Tiruvalam) Krishnamurti. FSU has had a strong reputation in meteorology for decades."
Mayfield's own reputation indicates that LaSeur and Krishnamurti are accomplished educators as well as leading scientists.
"(Mayfield) knows every link in the critical process of hurricane predictions," said Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Jack Kelly, director of the National Weather Service. "He understands the science of hurricanes and the science of communicating the threat of hurricanes."
Furthermore, Kelly said, "Max typifies the weather forecasters of our country who work around the clock to keep people safe."
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