edward.r.vasquez-1@ou.edu
raven.vasquez@noaa.gov
National Weather Center 2640
Raven became fascinated with weather at an early age when a tornado struck his hometown of Arlington, TX, during an event in 2000. Since then severe weather processes have been the focus of his studies, particularly the climatology and environmental analysis of storms and through participation in field projects. In college he began a storm chasing club to train fellow students how to responsibly and ethically participate in the hobby and participated in the local AMS chapter. As a graduate student, he participated in NASA field campaigns and researched radar and environmental properties of hailstorms for his thesis. Raven also contributes to a tornado history project with the goal of creating and maintaining a global tornado database, in collaboration with U.S. and international agencies/researchers.
Raven currently works as a CIWRO research associate at WDTD creating training materials for NWS forecasters, particularly as an AWIPS Hazard Services focal point. This training is important in getting NWS forecasters familiar with the software used to issue warnings and advisory products, including tornado, severe thunderstorm, and flash flooding warnings. He is also an instructor in the Radar and Applications course, which is an intensive 120-hour online class and 1-week in-person workshop to get NWS forecasters up to speed with using AWIPS and issuing warnings during severe weather.
