Ron Przybylinski

Remembering Ron Przybylinski

The National Weather Service lost one of its brightest — and most beloved — scientists on March 12, with the passing of Ron Przybylinski, the Science and Operations Officer (SOO) at NWS St. Louis. He died peacefully surrounded by family and friends.

As noted by NWS St. Louis Meteorologist-in-Charge Wes Browning, “Ron will be deeply missed by the many folks who had the great privilege to know him personally and to work with him over his long and very productive career in the National Weather Service and we extend our condolences to his family.”

Ron was well-known throughout the agency at all levels, not only as a great scientist, but also as a caring, engaging and thoughtful colleague. NWS Director Dr. Louis Uccellini remembers the important role Ron played in helping him adapt to the NWS operational culture after arriving at the agency more than a quarter century ago. “When I joined the NWS in 1989, after spending my entire career in the research community, Ron was instrumental in helping me see the tremendous potential of the SOO program and then navigate my way into the world of operations,” Uccellini said. “He was truly an expert in transitioning his research, and the research of others, into improvements in operational products and services. He was a friend, a trusted colleague, and simply a decent human being who was a joy to be around.”

During his 35-year career at NWS, Ron made major contributions to operational meteorology with his work in identifying radar signatures and favorable storm environments associated with strong and damaging winds. His research efforts in documenting quasi-linear convective systems (QLCSs) and their role in producing tornadoes and severe winds, and his lifelong dedication to mentoring and science sharing, aided countless warning forecasters and improved warning lead times across the agency.

Ron earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in meteorology at Saint Louis University in 1977 and 1981, respectively. He began his full-time career at the NWS Indianapolis Forecast Office in 1981. In 1991, became the first Science and Operations Officer at the NWS Forecast Office in St. Louis, where he remained for the rest of his career.

Ron’s contributions extended far beyond both Indianapolis and St. Louis, however. During the late 1980s, Ron was instrumental in helping bring new, life-saving technology into operations by serving as a project leader on the Operational Test and Evaluation of the WSR-88D Doppler radar. He studied QLCSs and their associated winds and tornadoes throughout the 1980s, writing a seminal paper on bow echoes in 1995. He was an organizer and key participant in the Bow Echo and Mesoscale Convective Vortex Experiment, which ran from May 20 to July 6, 2003, out of mid-America airport in Mascoutah, Illinois.

Throughout his career, Ron enthusiastically shared his research with his peers at the NWS and with students at universities across the country. He mentored countless young NWS forecasters and provided scientific support to many NWS Science and Operations Officers. He was a principal investigator on the severe straight-line winds component of the COMET Cooperative Project with Saint Louis University, and was also involved with the Cooperative Institute for Precipitation Studies (CIPS). Through his years of research efforts and operational experience, Ron became a recognized expert on QLCSs, bow echoes, mesoscale convective systems, as well as the convective winds and tornadogenesis associated with these thunderstorm structures. He was also a recognized expert on tornado damage assessment, and was on NWS’s Quick Response Team — a group of experts who are rushed to assess damage from particularly damaging (>EF3) tornadoes.

Ron’s most recent research efforts focused on detection of QLCS tornadoes. As a direct result of his research and training efforts, NWS St. Louis was able to triple average lead times during the December 31, 2010, QLCS tornado outbreak. Ron also participated heavily in the construction of COMET training — particularly on bow echoes — produced by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). Ron helped organize two operational workshops on bow echoes and QLCS tornadoes, including one held in March 2011 in St. Louis. He published numerous scientific papers and gave many presentations at both American Meteorological Society (AMS) and National Weather Association (NWA) conferences. He served on the AMS Severe Local Storms Committee, and served twice as a Councilor of the NWA. He was the recipient of the NWA Operational Research Award in 1989 and the 2003 NWA T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award “for outstanding applied research in radar analysis of severe storms and in forecasting of heavy rainfall and winter storms, and for incorporating research results, including the development of conceptual storm models into improving forecasting and warning operations.” In 2012 he was honored with the Charles L. Mitchell Award by the AMS “for improving NWS warnings through collaborative research and training in recognizing Doppler radar signatures associated with high wind events in quasi-linear convective systems.” In 2013 NOAA honored Ron with the Distinguished Career Award “for his work, which has improved our understanding of severe weather threats to our Nation, including damaging straight-line winds and tornadoes.”

Ron’s intense curiosity about the science of meteorology, his selflessness in working with countless young scientists across the country, and his unwavering dedication to public service will live on in all those fortunate enough to have known or worked with him. Ron will truly be missed by his many friends and colleagues.