Jenny Rourke
Since the age of 15 Jenny was fascinated by the weather and knew it was the only career-path she wanted to follow. She studied meteorology for her BSc and then completed a PhD in the seasonal prediction of East African Rainfall.
Jenny then spent almost a decade working as an operational meteorologist, forecasting such things as the dispersion of volcanic ash, the impacts of space weather, and of course, forecasting the weather across the UK and around the world. She also had the opportunity to work 50% of her time doing such things as being a senior trainer at the Met Office College and a weather impact scientist.
Jenny rose to the position of Deputy Chief Operational Meteorologist, providing guidance to forecasters all over the world. She then moved away from shift work, after having her two baby girls, and took an exciting opportunity to lead the operational production at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
Having coordinated several numerical model upgrades, and the operational migration to a new data centre, they then moved their family overseas to Germany, to take on her current role as Head of the Real-time Services and System Operations Division at EUMETSAT.
