02/11/2025
EJSSM mourns the passing of peerless severe-storms scientist Charles A. (Chuck) Doswell III, on 18 January.
Chuck's story as a scientist is rich, vast and deep, following his Bachelor of Science degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Masters and Ph. D. from the University of Oklahoma in the 1970s. Professionally, he worked at the National Severe Storms Forecast Center's Techniques Development Unit, NCAR in Boulder, NSSL, and CIMMS (now CIWRO), and was an adjunct professor at OU.
In the latter role, Chuck developed a challenging, long-running, graduate-level course, Advanced Forecast Techniques, to bridge the heretofore often detached worlds of theoretical understanding and operational forecasting. Perhaps more importantly, he taught his students and scientific peers how to think critically in the framework of scientific principles. This included by lectures, discussions and example, including through his rigorous reviews for EJSSM and many other journals. Chuck not only was a great scientist in his own right, but made those around him better.
With well over 100 peer-reviewed publications combined as lead- and co-author, editing of the AMS Meteorological Monograph on severe local storms, research collaborations with other scientists worldwide for decades, academic advisement and mentorship of countless many graduate students, and the friendships he nurtured with so many, Chuck's influence on meteorology is hard to overstate. Working with his longtime friend and scientific and storm-observing colleague Al Moller, he contributed his own excellent storm photography and deep understanding of supercell processes to spotter-training efforts of the NWS.
Chuck had a bluntly outspoken, larger-than-life personality, a powerful, plainspoken eloquence, and was in high demand as a speaker. He had a strong "BS filter" and could, by his own description, be a "curmudgeon." But in reality, Chuck had a heart of gold. He was a devoted husband, father and grandfather, a longtime Boy Scout leader and volunteer, and served civic causes throughout his adulthood.
Chuck was one of EJSSM's founders in 2006, and a continuous board member from then onward, laying a great deal of the scientific and idealistic foundation for the journal. Though Chuck is irreplaceable, his influence will live on in meteorology for generations to come.
