Shine Magazine, Issue 1, February 2010 - Department of Education ...

Where are THey now?Claire Yeo Sunbury Secondary College 1993–1995Claire Yeo has always been fascinated by weather. As a severeweather meteorologist for the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) andchief recruiter for storm spotters, she is living her childhooddream. “Weather has been a passion since the age of 10,” she says.“Growing up in Lismore where severe thunderstorms and floodsare fairly regular, it was all I ever talked about. In Grade 5 we werediscussing the weather in class – it was so exciting, and I knewthere and then that meteorology was what I wanted to do.”Then ••After her family moved to Melbourne, Ms Yeo enrolled at EmeraldSecondary College and completed Years 7 to 9 before her parentsmade a second move to Sunbury where she attended the localsecondary college and continued to study maths and physics inorder to secure her chosen career path.“I can’t say that I was very noticeable at school, apart from alwaystalking about wanting to be a meteorologist,” she says. “WhenI was in Year 8 my science teacher set an exercise that involvedforecasting the weather. I put a lot of work into that assignmentand achieved an A+. That certainly highlighted that I was on theright track,” she smiles.During her final VCE year at Sunbury Secondary Ms Yeo contactedthe BoM to find out what type of graduates were required, andpromptly enrolled in a Bachelor of Science degree (majoring inApplied Physics) at RMIT. “My interests in severe weather haveevolved,” she explains. “Originally I was very interested in severethunderstorms and led a real push to increase the number of stormspotters we have in Victoria.”According to Ms Yeo, storm spotters are a vital part of the BoMteam and anyone can be one, although it helps to have a realinterest in weather. “We can observe what looks like a severethunderstorm on radar and on satellite imagery, but we really needpeople on the ground reporting back what they see to verify thatsevere thunderstorms did occur,” she explains. “We have around1000 storm spotters across Victoria and they range from farmersto housewives to people in the medical profession.”But before you start conjuring up edge-of-the seat action scenesfrom Hollywood flicks like Twister, she adds that it’s not like themovies. “We definitely don’t condone people going out and chasingthunderstorms or putting themselves in danger,” she presses. “Allwe ask is for people to report the damage they see. These casestudies help us to learn the intricacies of Victorian weather, whichhelps us to know when to we should be putting out warnings.” SClaire Yeo in her final year at Sunbury Secondary CollegeNow ••Delivering the weather forecast in the studio of 774 ABC RadioIf you know of a past student who has achieved success, email us at editor@edumail.vic.gov.auStory by Tina Luton42 Shine Feb 2010