Dr. Charles Doswell III - RIP (age 79)

[Laney Cole]

Dr. Robin Tanamachi 🌪️ (@tornatrix.bsky.social)

Chuck Doswell’s obituary, announcing a public memorial service on 22 Feb at the National Weather Center: https://obituaries.normantranscript.com/obituary/charles-doswell-1092558368 It’s been a week since he passed, and I’m still coming to grips with the fact that I’m never going to speak with...

bsky.app

Link on post to the official obituary and donation site for those interested posted by Dr. Robin Tanamachi

Remembering the life of Charles Doswell

Charles Doswell passed away. This is the full obituary where you can express condolences and share memories. Published in the The Norman Transcript on 2025-01-22.

obituaries.normantranscript.com

 

[William Monfredo]

A little bit more about Chuck. He had a really solid work ethic that I appreciated. He recognized that everyone has responsibilities and those duties often come first and foremost ahead of any severe, local storms.
He chose and wrote his words carefully in life and for SPC. For a very general example, fog doesn’t burn off, it mixes out. And he didn’t like to state an opinion if he only knew very little about it. He believed in staying in your own lane, professionally speaking, then deferring to others.
He was concerned early on of “meteorological cancer” in which a forecasters' skills get eroded due to the overuse of computers and modeling.

I recall one evening after a tornado chase "somewhere out in the middle of nowhere" in north TX, it seemed that everyone had found the one, open restaurant. Matt Crowther and his wife from behind the scenes at TWC, Howie Bluestein from OU, Chuck Doswell from NSSL, and the MSU chase team…all quietly conversed, ordered, and ate. I thought to myself, if a tornado hits right now or a gas explosion occurs, there’d be a lot of restructuring at places of employment! Then I noticed that someone had been carrying around a Geophysical Monograph that Chuck helped edit, and when asked to autograph it, Chuck politely obliged signing it for him.

 

[JamesCaruso]

I didn’t think Chuck ever worked at SPC? Wasn’t he primarily on the research side, not operational forecasting? (I know he did research that *informed* operational forecasting, but he never worked at SPC *in* operational forecasting, did he?)

 

[Dan Robinson]

I didn’t think Chuck ever worked at SPC? Wasn’t he primarily on the research side, not operational forecasting? (I know he did research that *informed* operational forecasting, but he never worked at SPC *in* operational forecasting, did he?)

As I understand it, Doswell was with NSSFC (SPC's precursor in Kansas City) for a number of years.

 

[Blake Naftel]

As I understand it, Doswell was with NSSFC (SPC's precursor in Kansas City) for a number of years.

Chuck was an employee of the National Severe Storms Laboratory in the early to mid 1970's as a research student through his PhD. He was also involved with the late Les Lemon, Fred Ostby, Alan Pierson and many others at NSSFC in KC and then post modernization in 1996, NSSL/SPC when both shared the same building at 1313 Hailey Circle in OUN when the relocation occurred in/around 1995 NWS modernization. Randy Zipser could actually chime in here for some timeline background. He also taught synoptic, mesoscale, dynamics courses at the University of Oklahoma for many decades. I inherited all of his slides from the 1980's and 1990's, some of which were quite humorous, now all archived at TTU.

Blake

 

[Blake Naftel]

Dr. Robin Tanamachi 🌪️ (@tornatrix.bsky.social)

Chuck Doswell’s obituary, announcing a public memorial service on 22 Feb at the National Weather Center: https://obituaries.normantranscript.com/obituary/charles-doswell-1092558368 It’s been a week since he passed, and I’m still coming to grips with the fact that I’m never going to speak with...

bsky.app

Link on post to the official obituary and donation site for those interested posted by Dr. Robin Tanamachi

Remembering the life of Charles Doswell

Charles Doswell passed away. This is the full obituary where you can express condolences and share memories. Published in the The Norman Transcript on 2025-01-22.

obituaries.normantranscript.com

Thank you for passing the obituary along from Robin. I was unaware of the "online scam" noted, of which should be reported if not so already.

Best,

Blake

 

[Mike Smith]

Alan Pierson

Allen Pearson.

but he never worked at SPC *in* operational forecasting, did he?

As I understand it, Doswell was with NSSFC (SPC's precursor in Kansas City) for a number of years.

Chuck even issued a few tornado watches as Allen and Fred wanted the researchers to get a feel for the challenges faced by operational forecasters. We need more of that in our research community!

Chuck had an extraordinarily difficult childhood and did an amazing job overcoming it and making something special of himself. May God rest his soul.

 

[Blake Naftel]

Allen Pearson.




Chuck even issued a few tornado watches as Allen and Fred wanted the researchers to get a feel for the challenges faced by operational forecasters. We need more of that in our research community!

Chuck had an extraordinarily difficult childhood and did an amazing job overcoming it and making something special of himself. May God rest his soul.

Pardon the typo on Allen and thanks for the correction, Mike.

Chuck and his direct, honesty and blunt opinions, along with his humanity amidst the turbulent sky and atmospheric backdrop will be sincerely missed!

Blake