On Saturday February 29, WFO Chicago MIC Ed Fenelon called it a wrap on a 33 year career with the NWS! This includes 15 years as the Meteorologist-In-Charge of the Chicago office. Ed wants to spend more time with family and pursue greater international travel, looking to bring international travel to more people. Mark Twain said: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” A greater traveled populous means a more connected and empathetic society.
Ed started his NWS career at Williston, ND in December 1986, and transferred to WFO Kansas City, MO in May, 1988. In December, 1989, he predicted and then later recorded (we took manual observations back then!) the all-time low temperature record for KC on the 23rd of that month. In 1990 he was selected as Forecaster at WSFO Ann Arbor, MI, where he worked the Christmas Day Blizzard of 1992 that brought paralyzing whiteout conditions to the northwest part of the lower peninsula. Ed oversaw the office relocation to the new WFO facility in White Lake/Detroit, Michigan as part of the NWS Modernization of the 1990s, and was selected as Lead Forecaster around the same time in 1992.
In 1995 Ed had the privilege of serving on the management team as the first SOO at the WFO spin-up office in Marquette, MI, researching and teaching lake effect snow and marine meteorology. In 2000-01 he participated in the first and only ever NWS Senior Leadership Potential Program (SLPP), a national program which helped inspire other NWS programs to grow future leaders, such as LEAD, BLAST, and LIFT.
In 2001 Ed was selected as the MIC at WFO Marquette, and went on to experience more than 2200 inches of snow in a 10 year career at Marquette. In 2005 he was selected as MIC at WFO Chicago, where he was privileged to serve until this February when he will retire. Notable work at Chicago includes DOC Bronze Medal recognized office team accomplishments in the spin up of aviation services as part of the Golden Triangle Initiative, a precursor to our ongoing IDSS evolution; the rare out of season November 2013 tornado outbreak; and the historic February 2011 blizzard.
Ed also served as an NWS representative to the NOAA Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Team, and co-lead for the Great Lakes Observations Committee, which in 2007 was recognized with a NOAA Administrator’s award for its work in collaboratively expanding the observational network across the Great Lakes.
In 2006-2017, Ed served as one of founding facilitators for the CR LEAD experience program, and in 2012-14 he served a stint as the NOAA representative for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), an initiative implemented in 2010 by President Obama which accelerated efforts to restore and protect the Great Lakes through the collaborative leadership of 15 different federal agencies.
Over the past 33 years, Ed has cherished the work of the NWS in maintaining relevancy. Ed states: "Our evolution in the science, our tools, techniques, and our messaging have been ingenious and kept us the respected leaders of the weather hazards messaging in our communities. Our embracing of new tools and technologies, our undying quest for advancing the understanding of our craft, and motivation to serve has made us a rock in government during an era of shrinking public sectors."
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