Cloudy, With a Chance of Learning

Picture this.  

It’s a clear, beautiful afternoon at a concert venue. Crowds of people are gathered, murmuring excitedly as they wait for the opening act. But just as the performers take the stage, a bank of clouds rolls in and a thunderstorm erupts, drenching the attendees and sending the band running backstage as they try to protect their instruments from the downpour.

Without any warning of the impending weather, the day is ruined.  

Thankfully, with a little weather prediction technology and some meteorological know-how, situations like this are mostly avoidable — and Janae Acheson spent the summer helping to make that possible. 

Acheson, a senior Meteorology major with a minor in Communication Studies, recently completed an internship with AccuWeather, a global media organization focused on providing accurate weather forecasts to communities across the globe.  

Specifically, she worked with AccuWeather for Business, a subsection of the meteorological industry that people might not think about very often, but one that remains essential for helping concert venues, transportation companies, gas stations, farms and more avoid weather-related disasters.  

“I don’t know how often people think about it, but ahead of a winter storm, places like Lowe’s need to know when to start putting snow shovels out,” Acheson said. “Concert venues need constant updates on weather patterns to know when to delay or cancel. Trains need to know when a temperature swing might cause tracks to buckle. It’s a lot to consider.”  

Acheson’s interest in meteorology first began when she watched the movie “Twister” when she was 9 years old. Since then, she’s been able to forecast her career path with 100% accuracy. 

Following that passion to the University of Northern Colorado (UNC), she spent the last four years studying with her peers and participating in UNC’s chapter of the American Meteorological Society, most recently serving as the club’s president. 

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“We’re a small department, but in some ways, that’s been a luxury,” Acheson said. “Dr. Flynn, Dr. Lerach and our chair, Dr. Shellito all bring in such in-depth and niche expertise, and the students all end up building really close connections with our mentors. It doesn’t feel like we’re just another number in the classroom.” 

For Acheson, the tight-knit UNC connections extended beyond the classroom this summer as she set out for AccuWeather for Business’s headquarters in Wichita, Kansas. Before she even stepped through the doors to her internship, she’d made connections with two other UNC alumni working there.  

Tristan Irish, ‘19, and Steven Petersen, ‘24, were there to welcome Acheson to the team, ensuring that she wasn’t coming into the new experience entirely alone.  

“On my first day, Tristan told me that UNC Bears were going to take over AccuWeather now that there were three of us,” Acheson said. “But really, it was nice to have that connection with him and with Steven, who was a really good friend, before even walking in the door. It’s comforting to know that somebody has been in your shoes before.” 

During her internship, Acheson worked to produce “products” — temperature contour maps specifically designed to provide AccuWeather clients with real-time weather updates ranging from flash flood, high wind and lighting warnings to notifications on temperature swings and more.  

“We were a team of passionate nerds, and it was awesome.”

As she learned the ropes and became familiar with the workflow, she reflected on the differences between classroom learning and real-world doing. While she said she felt well prepared by what she’d learned at UNC, the reality of putting into practice took some getting used to.  

“The kind of operational meteorology we were doing was so different from the academic meteorology I’d been studying. It really put so much about life outside of college into perspective for me,” Acheson said. “There’s obviously overlap, but applying what you’ve learned in a real setting is completely different than learning it in the first place.” 

But once she got into the flow, she knew the experience would be a positive one. While her internship may have ended, Acheson said AccuWeather has already (informally) asked if she would consider coming back after graduation — something she can “totally see” herself doing. 

“I hate to sound cliche, but it was probably the best experience I’ve ever had,” Acheson said. “Sure, I was technically out there alone, but there were so many nice, encouraging people who just wanted to teach me and be a part of my learning experience because they were just as passionate as I am. We were a team of passionate nerds, and it was awesome.”