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Gordon E. Dunn
Born	(1905-08-09) 9 August 1905 Brownsville, Vermont
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Brown University (incomplete) George Washington University Florida State University Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Chicago
Occupation(s)	Chief of the Weather Bureau, year–year Chief of the National Hurricane Center, year–year
Spouse	Mildred Bigelow
Children	-
Parent	-

Gordon E. Dunn (born 9 August 1905)

Early life

Gordon Dunn was born on 9 August 1905 in Brownsville, Vermont. He was raised at a daily farm owned by his father, and was fascinated about the concept of meteorology. For eight years, he was educated at a two-room school in the town, and attended Windsor High School for one year, though he was later moved to the Montpelier Seminary upon a decision by his parents. As a teenager, he made frequent treks to the Weather Bureau (WB)'s office in Northfield, which was staffed by a single person. There, he observed diagrams and recommended times for his father to cure hay and ways to protect against frost.

For one semester, Dunn studied basic courses at Brown University, and regularly visited the Weather Bureau's office in Providence, Rhode Island during evenings, where he examined charts and created informal forecasts with an employee from Maine. For a month following, Dunn had scarlet fever, and lagged in his classes. Whilst thinking about his education, Dunn took a job as a messenger boy at the Weather Bureau office in Providence during May 1984. By taking surface weather observations, he created the weather map for the morning newspaper and delivered information to the Western Union office.

Career

In July 1924, Dunn received a job at the Weather Bureau's office in Tampa, Florida, as a junior observer with a salary of $1,020 (1924 USD). He was required to take two surface observations, which were delivered to the central Weather Bureau office in Washington, D.C. The forecasts were telegraphed at 1100 EST; during the wintertime, an additional forecast would be issued at 2300 EST. Dunn became the lead of the Boy Scout troops in Tampa soon thereafter, who assisted him in his tasks at the Weather Bureau; the officer-in-charge at the Weather Bureau, Walter J. Bennett, allowed Dunn to take time off upon the completion of the imprinting of the morning forecasts to work with the troops. Although the forecast cards anticipated fair weather, an unexpected hurricane struck 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Tampa during an evening in September, inundating the camp.

In late-November 1925, Dunn noted rainy conditions accompanied by a southeast wind and an atmospheric pressure of 1005 mbar (hPa; 29.68 inHg), leading him to the conclusion that a tropical storm was southwest of the Florida Keys. Though he and Bennett received the normal marine forecast, Dunn was aroused near 0200 EST the following morning by strong winds tearing the roof off his home. He rushed to the Bureau office, took a special observation using a barograph and delivered it to the Western Union office. The message requested by Dunn was the first to be sent upon the morning. The Air Commerce Act was passed in 1926, while discussions for making a college degree a requirement to be eligible under it. Dunn remained ambitious; in hope of acquiring a college degree, he applied to be transferred to a different location.

In July 1926, he was appointed as a scientific aid in the Aerological Division of the WB's central office in Washington, D.C. Among Dunn's roles were recording pilot balloon observations for the city. At the time, no university inside the United States had a meteorological education system, though he occupied George Washington University beginning in 1926, and eventually received a Bachelor of Arts degree for political science in 1932. He also later studied meteorological courses at Florida State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Chicago.

He was promoted to become a meteorologist in July 1931, appointed under the Forecast Division at the central Bureau office, and worked with Charles F. Mitchell, who educated Dunn in prediction routines, suggesting he create some of his own.

Dunn succeeded Grady Norton following her death in 1954.

References

General

• Burpee, Robert W. (December 1989). "Gordon E. Dunn: Preeminent Forecaster of Midlatitude Storms and Tropical Cyclones". Weather and Forecasting. 4 (4). Miami, Florida: American Meteorological Society: 573–584. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(1989)004<0573:GEDPFO>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 1520-0434. Retrieved 2011-12-23. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Specific