Name: Fernando Diaz-Guzman
School/grade: Senior, Kent City High School
Passion: Meteorology
Kent City — To say Fernando Diaz-Guzman is interested in meteorology would be an oversimplification. He loves doing deep dives into atmospheric science and scientific weather models from around the globe. He enjoys incorporating photography into the experience, capturing clouds and sun pillars and storm fronts to study their colors and shapes and movement. And he cares about keeping people safe and sees accurate weather forecasting as a way to do so.
Case in point: His interview with School News Network was originally scheduled for a Thursday morning at Kent City High School. On the Tuesday afternoon prior, this reporter received a message from Fernando with an early weather prediction.
“There’s a chance for ice accumulation through Wednesday night into Thursday,” he texted.
We rescheduled. It was the right call.
When we did meet up in person — only a light snow shower that day — Fernando came prepared with tornado videos and forecast models for that week’s snowstorm, and it was easy to see how weather has become his life’s passion. Read on to discover more about the Kent City senior’s weather-related career goals, his snow-day prediction accuracy and the unique criteria he’s using to choose a college.
‘If you mess something up with your (weather) data, that’s gonna be on you for giving out the wrong information, so I try not to miss anything.’
— senior Fernando Diaz-Guzman
When and how did meteorology become something you were interested in? Fernando said he’s been regularly watching weather videos on the internet since he was a kid. It started with a fascination for figuring out how storms like tornadoes and hurricanes form and has built from there.
“In middle school, people started asking me about (weather forecasts) and I realized that I was talking about weather a lot and people were noticing,” he said. “That’s when I figured out that it was one of my main interests in life and probably something that I was most interested in (for a career). They would have us do career quizzes, and I’d skim through all the options just looking for weather-related stuff.”
Today, the “Favorites” bar on Fernando’s computer is chock full of weather- and science-related links he checks regularly: the National Hurricane Center. A satellite imagery website. The National Weather Service. A winter prediction center. Weekly and monthly tornado reports and probability forecasts. Data from the Great Lakes and other water buoys throughout the world. And many, many more.
With all these weather models at his disposal, Fernando has also become his classmates’ go-to source for snow-day predictions. He’ll even get texts from friends in other school districts, wondering about their probability. He says his predictions have averaged about a 70% accuracy rate.
“I look through several weather models from different websites (to evaluate the chances of school closures),” he said. “The weather app on our phones is not necessarily very reliable, because it only uses one weather model. You’ve got to use multiple (models) so you can actually get more details, more information, and learn which (weather trends) you should follow.”
Related accomplishments or experiences: Fernando got to job-shadow WZZM meteorologists Samantha Jacques, George Lessens and Blake Hansen at the TV news station’s weather center. He learned how they put forecasts together, explored the weather deck, studied the various models and data they use daily and even got to practice giving a forecast in front of the green screen.
“It was all so fun and amazing, and I was trying so hard to not geek out, but (the meteorologists) were like, ‘You should geek out! We’re all weather nerds here!’” he recalled.
Do you plan to pursue this professionally? Envision yourself 10 years from now: “I would like to be a meteorologist either at a TV station or at a National Weather Service office. Jobs in weather usually change a lot over time. … I might just go with the National Weather Service, where they focus on all the information coming in and work together with a small team, and with storm chasers, to get the information out to people in the right way to help them.
“I could also work with the National Hurricane Center to monitor hurricanes as they form in the ocean. That work could have you stationed around the world, because there’s not only hurricanes, there are typhoons and cyclones as well, which I find really interesting.”
Speaking of storm chasers, Fernando isn’t a certified chaser yet, but hopes to gain experience by chasing a few tornadoes this year — “but not too close; I want to be safe.” He said he’ll likely take classes to become certified and help boost his scientific knowledge.
How do you plan to make this career happen? Besides his KCHS classes, Fernando is also dual enrolled in Launch U, an early college program through Kent ISD and Grand Rapids Community College. This means he’ll graduate from GRCC next spring with his associate degree.
After that, he’s considering either Central Michigan University or Valparaiso University. And while he’s narrowed it down to those two schools based on the strength of their meteorology programs, the final decision may be based on something more…organic.
“CMU is in Mount Pleasant, which can be more prone to any type of weather occasion. I’ve noticed that they have even more weather events than we do (in West Michigan), even though we are closer to the lake. And they get more intense weather, like stronger (storm) cells. So that could be interesting.
“But Valparaiso (outside Chicago) also has winter storms, and they might not get as much weather from (Lake Michigan) but they usually get a lot of tornado outbreaks in the area, which is another interest of mine. And they also have a storm chasing program. … So it’s going to be very complicated to choose between the two.”
What’s the biggest lesson you have learned from studying weather? “Always try to be the most accurate when you put out a forecast. Because if you’re off, there could be lives at risk, and you don’t ever want to risk that.
“I recently learned that there is a code in the storm-chasing program that if they are chasing a storm and there is a house or people that will be directly impacted (by the storm), they have to stop whatever they’re doing and help those people out, and I think that is a good thing.
“Weather impacts everyone, and it’s very important to help every single person out there because every life counts. If you mess something up with your data, that’s gonna be on you for giving out the wrong information, so I try not to miss anything. … And if your forecast is right, people will trust you and rely on you more than looking at false information like I see people do a lot on social media, which is annoying. I like being able to help people.”
Other interests/hobbies: Fernando runs track and cross-country for KCHS; his longest run to date is 17 miles, and he usually runs a half marathon every Sunday. This year his goal is to run a full marathon in competition, perhaps in Grand Rapids or Chicago.
He’s a puzzle enthusiast as well, and enjoys hunting through the treasures at Goodwill for his next challenge. Goodwill, by the way, is also where he once found a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration radio, which he plans to use in the future for severe weather alerts.
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