thunderstorm on Lake Ontario when he was just 10 years old set tornadochasing meteorologist Scott Steiger ’99, an assistant professor at Oswego, on the path to his career. Steiger and his father were out in a boat fishing near their home in Hilton, near Rochester, when a storm blew up. The fishing expedition cut short, young Scott was walking up the dock, head hanging down, when a lightning bolt struck between his feet and face. He rushed to the safety of the car and watched the thunderstorm’s progress. As the clouds passed in front of a sunny patch, the youngster could see balls falling to earth, silhouetted by the light. When the storm reached the car, Scott had his first encounter with hail. “It was summertime and here were chunks of ice falling from the sky.” You can still hear the wonder in his voice. “I can remember that image — looking out to the south and seeing the balls fall with light in the background. That was the moment I fell in love with weather.” It is a love affair that has lasted his entire life, nurtured by his parents and later, at his alma mater. It is a passion that would lead him to chase tornadoes across the Great Plains and to stand on the roof of Piez Hall photographing lighting bolts and waterspouts, or tornadoes, on Lake Ontario.
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OSWEGO
Fall 2006
Scott Steiger ’99 Chases His Dream to Oswego CATCHING THE ‘BUG’ When he was in elementary school, Steiger’s parents got the budding meteorologist a weather radio with an alarm on it. “I would get so excited and run to the window. When a snowstorm was predicted, I would I wake up each hour until 6 a.m.,” he recalls. He’s not alone in such passion, Steiger contends. He says his Oswego meteorology students often have similar stories. “It’s a bug that gets into you,” he says. “It’s that drive to understand what the heck is going on outside.” It’s a natural human response, in Steiger’s opinion. “You see weather every day and you want to understand what is making that happen.” His desire to understand what makes weather tick led Steiger to Oswego. He was a fan of Rochester meteorologist Kevin Williams, who studied at Cornell. On a visit to Cornell, Steiger encountered Mark Wysocki, who had previously taught at Oswego. He told Steiger he could get a good education in meteorology and encounter some pretty exciting weather at Oswego. Steiger already knew of Oswego. While visiting his sister, Christine Steiger Hoffman, on
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campus, he had encountered lake effect snow like he had never seen before.“At home we got lake effect snow, but not feet at a time. We don’t get lightning with snow. We don’t get waterspouts,” he says.“Most people don’t like [Oswego weather], but, for the meteorologist, it’s heaven.”