Hillsborough resident David Robinson, 45, knew
as a child he was fascinated by snowstorms
and other weather related events.
By: Laura Toto
"I started keeping weather records as part of a fourth-grade science lesson," he said. "I still keep records."
Though he never thought of his fascination turning out to be a career, he followed his interests by receiving advanced degrees in geographical sciences.
Now he’s the state climatologist and chairman at Rutgers University’s department of geography in New Brunswick.
But that doesn’t mean he can make a weather forecast Mr. Robinson said repeatedly he is not a meteorologist.
"I look at the broader picture, as early as you wish, and continue on into the future," he said.
For instance, he can look at what may happen in the next few decades in New Jersey and why it is happening. He looks at global warming and the effects humans have had on it, and what that could mean for the future.
Statewide, New Jersey has become 1 to 2 degrees warmer over the last century, he said. And the last three decades have been the wettest of the last century.
But surprisingly snowfall on average has not changed.
Mr. Robinson is most concerned with the impact global warming can have on water resources, including droughts, and the variability of the climate, including water supplies, heat and snow.
"I think the climate will become more variable," Mr. Robinson said.
For example, he said the last real drought New Jersey saw was in the 1960s. It lasted three to five years, as opposed to the 9- to 15-monthlong minidroughts the state has seen since.
He added there have been periods of minidrought, where water restrictions were placed on the public, but "with almost 8.5 million people living in this state, we can’t well manage a drought." "The (mini) droughts were quickly mitigated by substantial rains," he said.
And if a drought were to occur now, there are reservoirs and other water sources to get the public through the initial stages, but not in its entirety.
"There’s nothing we can do to stop a drought from happening," he said.
Mr. Robinson also said we are "more modernized but more vulnerable" in the event of a serious weather-related threat. For instance, the coast of Long Island was easily evacuated years ago before there were so many people living there.
Mr. Robinson currently is working to get 100 to 200 weather stations networked throughout New Jersey to measure temperature, precipitation and wind. It will help monitor the state and the information can be reported in "real time" on the Web.
An example of the benefits of such a network would include tracking a snowstorm throughout the state for better forecasting. If a snowstorm is moving into the state, the temperatures can be monitored to show the rise and fall in different areas.
"It is critical to know where the ‘freeze line’ is," he said. "Road crews need to know what the temperatures might be."
Mr. Robinson said right now nothing is being networked. He wants to include the Department of Transportation, the state Emergency Management Services office, the National Weather Service and others.
"No one can deny how important it is to have our finger on the pulse, weather-wise," he said.
Mr. Robinson and his wife, Keating, have two sons, Douglas, 15, and Drew, 11.