NWS Cleveland 2025 Summer Student Volunteer Program

Applications are due by end of day February 4, 2025!

Application can be found here.

The National Weather Service in Cleveland is seeking two motivated students that desire to learn more about the operations in a local weather service office while conducting research that benefits National Weather Service operations. This is an unpaid volunteer opportunity.

The internship will be completed on site at NWS Cleveland in Brooklyn Heights, OH and will be split between the assigned project and shadowing the forecast desk, doing operational forecaster training, and going out into the field with NWS staff for meetings and surveys. This will give students the opportunity to determine whether a career with the National Weather Service may be right for them.

2025 Research Projects

Each student will be assigned a project based on their skills and interests, which will utilize about 40% of the internship hours. Students will also be assigned a mentor that will help guide them through their project and will present their work at the end of the internship. Students can work on projects that they are already working on for their current undergraduate/graduate program.

Project 1: Natural Risk Hazard Assessment by County

• The student will help create a county-by-county climatology of natural hazards of the local forecast area. The student will help determine climatology, create maps, and create a product to display on the NWS Cleveland webpage for at least one county of their choosing. A reference to a similar project can be found on NWS Springfield's webpage here. 
• Special Skills Preferred:
  • Prior experience with data collection and analysis, including basic statistics
  • GIS mapping experience
  • Ability to summarize data succinctly and tailor information so it can be understood by the public
  • Experience in graphic creation via Microsoft Office and/or Google (optional, but helpful)

Project 2: Creating Operational Dashboards Using ArcGIS to Support Operations

• The student will design ArcGIS Dashboards to display useful situational awareness for various weather hazards (i.e., severe weather, winter weather, hydrology) of their choosing. These dashboards can be used in the future by operational staff members during impactful weather and/or day-to-day operations.
• Special Skills Preferred:
  • GIS mapping experience
  • Ability to identify hazardous weather elements necessary to maintain situational awareness

Project 3: Composite Analog Chart of Lake Effect Snow

• The student will be provided a list of warning-level lake effect snow events in the NWS Cleveland forecast area spanning the 2006-2007 through 2023-2024 seasons. The volunteer will collect archived radar data, upper air charts, and other data to create a composite analog chart of lake effect snowfall across the NWS Cleveland forecast area. This will help improve forecasters' pattern recognition for significant lake effect snow events.
• Special Skills Preferred:
  • ​A basic understanding of lake effect precipitation
  • Data analysis including WSR-88D radar data, pressure charts, and upper air charts
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets

Requirements

Length of Internship

Students must be available to volunteer for at least 10-15 hours per week on average between mid May and early August (approximately 120 hours total for summer). Beyond the 10 hour per week requirement, students can work as many or as few hours as they wish. Students will spend about 60% of their hours working on operations (i.e., shadowing the forecast desk, assisting with severe weather, and learning how to issue forecast products) with the other 40% of their hours spent working on their project.

Eligibility

Students must fulfill the following requirements:

• Undergraduate or graduate students that are currently majoring meteorology or atmospheric science and are in good academic standing.
• At least half-time enrollment at a university that has (by summer 2025) completed their sophomore or junior year.
• Should be residing in the NWS Cleveland forecast area for the summer. NWS Cleveland will not be providing lodging/transportation.

How to Apply

• The application to apply can be found here. Applications will be open until end of day February 4, 2025. In addition to basic information, please be sure to include:
  • Education information including university, major, expected graduation date, and current GPA
  • A cover letter including your interest and why you should be selected
  • A resume
  • An unofficial copy of your transcripts
  • Contact information for at least one reference, including full name, email, and phone number

Important Note: All information in your resume/transcript submission will be viewed only by selecting officials. However, note that sending Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is a violation of U.S. privacy law and information security. Please ensure that all PII is removed or redacted from all documents. PII includes but is not limited to: social security numbers, date of birth, driver's license/passport numbers, and any other information that may distinguish individual identity.

If you have any questions, please contact salix.iverson@noaa.gov and alexa.maines@noaa.gov.