Spotlight on J.J. Gourley

Native Oklahomans that become meteorologists frequently have had a traumatic tornado event that helped define their career. For J.J. Gourley, it was no different. J.J. was too young to remember details, but he has a vague recollection of people rushing around in the streets. He learned later that this memory is from when he was about a year old -- a tornado had come near his home town of Broken Arrow, OK. He has been interested in the weather as long as he can remember.

The mountains of Colorado diverted J.J. from his plan to attend Penn State as a meteorology major. He went to Colorado University instead, majoring in physics. After two years he wanted to get back into meteorology and came to OU. He immediately began looking for a weather-related job and started knocking on doors, beginning with the Doppler trailer at NSSL. Ken Howard answered the knock, interviewed him on the spot, and gave him a job. J.J. maintained his interest in meteorology and went on to earn his M.S. at OU. He began his Ph.D. work at the University of Arizona in hydrology, but felt he was getting too out-of-touch with meteorology and came back to OU. He has finished all his Ph.D. coursework and hopes to finish his dissertation by December 2002.

J.J. (CIMMS) studies techniques to improve estimates of rainfall in real-time using multiple data sources -- a project called QPE-SUMS (Quantitative Precipitation Estimation and Segregation Using Multiple Sensors). QPE-SUMS utilizes WSR-88D data, GOES satellite imagery, gauge rainfall, numerical model output, and lightning and sounding data to produce rainfall maps that can be fed into a distributed runoff model for accurate river flow predictions. His current project tries to determine what specific road and bridge will become flooded. (This is important work since flash floods are the number-one killer in the U.S.) Much of his work is done in cooperation with Arizona's Salt River Project and with the Sea Grant Program in North Carolina.

During his work-related travelling he has gained the reputation as an adventurous eater. He has tried sea cucumbers and the eyeball of a red snapper (which he says is not that bad). He enjoys exploring the outdoors with his wife Karen and his dog Charlie through hiking, cycling, biking, and flyfishing. J.J. tries to not go to the same place twice, and says his favorite place is somewhere not yet discovered.