Voices of the Gulf of Maine: The Weatherman

For meteorologist John Cannon, forecasting weather is both a passion and a profession — but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. John describes forecasting in the Gulf of Maine bioregion by saying, “Everything you learn in meteorology… a lot of it is scratched.”

John is the marine program manager at the National Weather Service. His mission is to understand and predict the weather to assist mariners, shoreline residents, emergency responders and many other community stakeholders.

John has been a key partner of GMRI’s Ocean Data Products (ODP) team for over a decade. Together, they’ve worked on data tools that can help decision-makers predict storm damage (i.e. splash-over, coastal flooding, and beach erosion) for vulnerable locations. This work will only become more important as our coastal waters continue to warm and rise.