Richard 'Rick' Knabb is an American

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

who served as the 11th Director of the

National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/ National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian west poleward to the 3 ...

from June 4, 2012 to May 12, 2017. On March 21, 2017, Knabb announced his return to

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather foreca ...

as the tropical weather expert which was the position he held from 2010 to 2012. As a result, he left the position of Director of the NHC.

Early life and education

Knabb was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and was raised in suburban

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

and in the Houston, Texas suburb of Katy. He attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

earned a bachelor's degree in Atmospheric Science before earning a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in meteorology from Florida State University.

Meteorology career

Knabb started working for the

NHC NHC could refer to: * Nag Hammadi Codex, or Nag Hammadi Codices (e.g. NHC II, NHC XIII) * New Hanover County, a county in North Carolina * New Haven County, a county in Connecticut. * The National Humanities Center in North Carolina * The Nationa ...

in 2001. He served as a Senior Hurricane Specialist from 2005 to 2008. He left the NHC to become deputy director of the

Central Pacific Hurricane Center The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) of the United States National Weather Service is the official body responsible for tracking and issuing tropical cyclone warnings, watches, advisories, discussions, and statements for the Central Pacifi ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

where he stayed until joining

in May 2010 replacing Steve Lyons as

tropical weather The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred t ...

expert. He was announced as Director of the

starting June 4, 2012 replacing Bill Read. He is back at

as of 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knabb, Richard American meteorologists Living people National Weather Service people Florida State University alumni The Weather Channel people 1979 births