Yvette Richardson is an American meteorologist with substantial contributions to

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

dynamics,

tornadogenesis Tornadogenesis is the process by which a tornado forms. There are many types of tornadoes, varying in methods of formation. Despite ongoing scientific study and high-profile research projects such as VORTEX projects, VORTEX, tornadogenesis is a ...

, the environments of tornadoes,

supercell A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone, a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (su ...

s, and severe convection, and radar observations of these. She was a principal investigator (PI) of

VORTEX2 The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (or VORTEX) are field experiments that study tornadoes. VORTEX1 was the first time scientists completely researched the entire evolution of a tornado with an array of instrumentat ...

Career

Richardson graduated with Special Academic Honors (''sigma cum laude'') at the

University of Wisconsin–River Falls The University of Wisconsin–River Falls (UW–River Falls or UWRF) is a public university in River Falls, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System. The campus is situated on the Kinnickinnic River in the ...

(UWRF) with a B.S. in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

in 1990. She earned a M.S. and Ph.D. in meteorology from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

(OU) in 1993 and 1999, respectively. Richardson was a visiting assistant professor at OU from 1998 to 2000, was a research scientist at OU from 2000 to 2001, and has been a professor at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

(PSU) since 2002. She is a member of

Sigma Pi Sigma Sigma Pi Sigma () is an American honor society for physics and astronomy. It was founded at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina on December 11, 1921. It is the oldest and only American honor society for physics and astronomy. It is an or ...

and

Phi Kappa Phi The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (or simply Phi Kappa Phi or ) is an honor society established in 1897 to recognize and encourage superior scholarship without restriction as to the area of study, and to promote the "unity and democracy of educa ...

. Richardson was on the steering committee, was a scientific-PI, and was co-coordinator of mobile

mesonet In meteorology and climatology, a mesonet, portmanteau of mesoscale network, is a network of automated weather and, often also including environmental monitoring stations, designed to observe mesoscale meteorological phenomena and/or microclima ...

s for VORTEX2. She previously collaborated in other field projects, including PAMREX, (2003–2004), IHOP (2002), ROTATE (2000, 2001, 2004), and VORTEX1 (1994–1995). She co-authored the textbook, ''Mesoscale Meteorology in Midlatitudes'', with Paul Markowski with whom she also wrote a major ''

Weatherwise ''Weatherwise'' is a magazine founded in 1947 by American historian, meteorologist, and author David M. Ludlum. It covers weather and climate for weather enthusiasts as well as meteorologists and climatologists and is the only popular press p ...

'' magazine article, "How to Make a Tornado". Richardson is a co-writer of a rebuttal to a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' opinion piece by physicist

Richard A. Muller Richard A. Muller (born January 6, 1944) is an American physicist and emeritus professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He was also a faculty senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In early 2010, Mu ...

, challenging his contention that tornadic activity had decreased in the U.S. and his tying the alleged decline to

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

References

External links

PSU profile

WeatherBrains interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Yvette American meteorologists University of Wisconsin–River Falls alumni University of Oklahoma alumni University of Oklahoma faculty Pennsylvania State University faculty Storm chasers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)

Career

See also

References

External links