Peter Dodge (July 21, 1950 March 3, 2023) was an American

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

and noted expert on

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

technology. The

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

resident participated in hundreds of hurricane hunting missions to improve understanding of hurricane formation.

Early life and education

Dodge graduated from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in 1972 with a B.S. in Mathematics. He volunteered with the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

, teaching math and science at a rural high school in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. He worked in a

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

(NOAA) cooperative program at the Prototype Regional Observing and Forecasting System in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

, before receiving a master's degree from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in Seattle.

Career

As a researcher with the NOAA's

Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), a federal research laboratory, is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), located in Miami in the Unit ...

, Dodge served as onboard radar scientist on 386

NOAA Hurricane Hunters The NOAA Hurricane Hunters are a group of aircraft used for hurricane reconnaissance by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They fly through hurricanes to help forecasters and scientists gather operational an ...

missions aboard "Miss Piggy", a

Lockheed P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop Anti-submarine warfare, anti-submarine and maritime patrol aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. It is based on the Lockheed ...

. In addition, he developed flight modules and conducted research on the evolution of hurricanes' structures. He focused on the behavior of rain cells during a hurricane. Toward the end of his career, he lost his sight but continued to contribute to missions with the aid of a Braille keyboard.

Recognition

During his 44-year career in the

United States federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

, he was awarded the

Department of Commerce Bronze Medal The awards and decorations of the United States Department of Commerce are Awards and decorations of the United States government, civil awards and decorations which are presented to civilian and uniformed personnel of the U.S. Department of Commer ...

, two

NOAA Administrator's Award The NOAA Administrator's Award is an award of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The award is granted by the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, who serves concurrently as the Administrator of the Natio ...

s, and the Army Corps of Engineers Patriotic Civilian Service Award. As part of the Hurricane Research Division, he received a

Department of Commerce Gold Medal Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

and a Public Service Award at the Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference for service during the 1998 hurricane season.

Death and legacy

Dodge died in 2023 after suffering a stroke. The following year, a Hurricane Hunters mission buried him at sea about southwest of Florida. After reading "Peace, my heart" by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

, the crew released a

dropsonde A dropsonde is an expendable weather reconnaissance device created by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), designed to be dropped from an aircraft at altitude over water to measure (and therefore track) storm conditions as the dev ...

containing his cremated remains into the eye of

Hurricane Milton Hurricane Milton was an extremely powerful and destructive tropical cyclone which in 2024 became the most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico, tying with Hurricane Rita in 2005. Milton made landfall on the west coa ...

, then a Category 5 hurricane. The flight's vortex data message marks the moment as the end of his "387th" mission.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodge, Peter 1950 births 2023 deaths American meteorologists People associated with radar Scientists from Florida National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration personnel Burials at sea Hurricane Milton American blind people Blind scholars and academics University of Washington alumni Peace Corps people Weather radar pioneers