I’m sure you see it all the time on many weather job boards:  “Get ready to work “evenings, weekends, nights, holidays.”  Certainly this is true.   I’ve worked in a 24×7 work environment when I was an aviation weather meteorologist.  (See how flight lessons led to an Aviation weather Meteorologist job).

It’s no doubt that weather is a 24/7, 365 day a year phenomenon.  And a lot of different industries need meteorologists around the clock.  But there are a few industries where weather can be a Monday-Friday day job.  And by “day” job I mean one that does not involve an overnight shift.

Let’s discuss a few of them:

Morning and Chief Meteorologists at TV stations:  If you’re the morning and chief meteorologists at your respective stations…congratulations you’re one of the select few who generally work only on the weekdays.  Sometimes you may fill in for your weekend meteorologist…but hey you get to work Monday-Friday.  And yes morning meteorologists do have to wake up early…but hey you’re off by 1pm every weekday!  And that’s a luxury in the weather business. (Here’s how I got my first TV weather job)

Energy Trade Floor Meteorologists work on “market hours”.  When the NYMEX  (New York Mercantile Exchange) is open, then the trade floor meteorologists are always working.  When I was an energy trade floor meteorologist my work hours on the US west coast were from 4am-1pm, Monday-Friday….and yes that’s right I had the weekends off and all bank holidays!

In a series of future posts, I’ll go into more detail about this fascinating and challenging role and how to be the select few to break into this field…it’s definitely been my favorite weather position thus far!!

Meteorology Professors:  The good ole teaching life.  You get to work Monday-Friday at a college or university…you may grade papers/or exams/or do some research over the weekend to kill time…but generally you are a working Monday-Friday Meteorology professor while school is in session.

I really can’t think of any more…maybe some folks on the research side…or peeps that do Atmospheric modeling for private companies.  But by in large, weather is a 24 x 7 field because weather never stops.  It does get especially difficult around the major holidays…but you do get paid extra

Nevertheless, when you here rumors from people that all meteorologists have to work overnight/weekend shift work in meteorology…prove them wrong by showing them this post!  Weather can be a Monday-Friday day job!