Erik N.

Rasmussen
Erik Nels Rasmussen (born January 27, 1957) is an
American meteorologist and leading expert on Erik Rasmussen
mesoscale meteorology, severe convective storms,
forecasting of storms, and tornadogenesis. He was the
field coordinator of the first of the VORTEX projects
in 1994-1995 and a lead principal investigator for
VORTEX2 from 2009-2010[3] and VORTEX-SE from
2016-2017,[4] as well as involved in other smaller
VORTEX offshoots and many field projects.
Born January 27, 1957
Alma mater University of Oklahoma (B.S.,
Biography 1980)
Texas Tech University (M.S., 1982)
Colorado State University (Ph.D.,
Education 1992)
[2]

Rasmussen was born in Hutchinson, Kansas to James Known for Supercell and tornadogenesis
and Ilse Rasmussen in 1957. His younger brother Neal, research, field project leadership
a software engineer, is also a storm chaser and is an Awards Presidential Early Career Award
accomplished videographer and photographer. for Scientists and Engineers[1]

Rasmussen's undergraduate meteorology study was at Scientific career

the University of Oklahoma (OU) in Norman where he Fields Meteorology
received a B.Sc. in 1980. Here he was introduced to Institutions NSSL, CIMMS, Rasmussen
field research under Howard Bluestein, chasing Systems
supercells and tornadoes, and learning about
Thesis Observational and Theoretical
thunderstorm structure and processes. He went on to
Study of Squall Line Evolution (ht
graduate school at Texas Tech University (TTU) in
tp://digitool.library.colostate.edu/
Lubbock where he earned a M.Sc. in atmospheric
webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=
sciences in 1982. In grad school he developed a
2464) (1992)
reputation as a particularly adept forecaster and
Doctoral Steve Rutledge[2]
interceptor of severe storms and tornadoes and was
advisor
nicknamed "The Dryline Kid" in reference to the dry
line which initiates isolated storms and attendant
tornadoes.[5] His thesis was The Tulia Outbreak Storm: Mesoscale Evolution and Photogrammetric
Analysis (http://repositories.tdl.org/ttu-ir/handle/2346/18741).

From 1982-1984, Rasmussen pursued further postgraduate work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign (UIUC). He worked at W.A.R.N. Inc., Now Weather Inc., WeatherData Inc., and PROFS
(which became the Forecast Systems Laboratory or FSL before that unit was merged into the Earth
System Research Laboratories or ESRL). He finished his Ph.D. at Colorado State University (CSU) in Ft.
Collins in 1992. At CSU he participated in more field work, including researching squall lines in
Australia and his dissertation was titled Observational and Theoretical Study of Squall Line Evolution (htt
p://digitool.library.colostate.edu/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=2464).[2]

Career
Rasmussen became a research meteorologist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and then
the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS). After the study of squall lines
his interest returned to supercells from the microphysical aspects of cloud particles to mesoscale
environments modulating storm behavior. He was the field commander (FC) of Project VORTEX (https://
web.archive.org/web/20130306153828/http://www.stormresearch.com/vortex/) in 1994-1995 where he
worked with lead forecaster Charles A. Doswell III, participated in SUB-VORTEX and VORTEX-99,
STEPS (http://data.eol.ucar.edu/codiac/projs?STEPS), IHOP (https://www.eol.ucar.edu/field_projects/iho
p2002/), and served on the steering committee and was a lead principal investigator (PI) for VORTEX2 (h
ttps://www.eol.ucar.edu/field_projects/vortex2/) in 2009-2010[6] as well as project manager for
VORTEX-SE (http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/vortexse/) in 2016-2017.[4]

Since his college days Rasmussen was a major contributor to Storm Track magazine although by the mid-
1990s his previously intense interest in storm chasing was waning. For years he did research and
computer programming through his company Rasmussen Systems located near Grand Junction,
Colorado. This work remains supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and he consults for
NSSL and CIMMS, private meteorological companies, and other entities.[7] In 2015 Rasmussen moved
back to Norman, where he continues this aforementioned work and serves as Program Manager for the
VORTEX-SE project.

See also
Robert Davies-Jones
David Dowell
Katharine Kanak
Paul Markowski
Jerry Straka
Joshua Wurman

References
1. "Erik Rasmussen Named Outstanding Young Scientist" (https://web.archive.org/web/201509
24083041/http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/pr97/oct97/noaa97-r512.html) (Press release).
NOAA Public Affairs. 1997-10-29. Archived from the original (http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.g
ov/pr97/oct97/noaa97-r512.html) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
2. Rasmussen, Erik (2002). "Erik Rasmussen, Research Meteorologist" (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20010424121836/http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/~erik/). National Severe Storms
Laboratory. Archived from the original (http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/~erik) on 2001-04-24.
3. "NSSL VORTEX2 Quick Facts" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140228003947/http://www.n
ssl.noaa.gov/projects/vortex2/media/quickfacts.php). Archived from the original (http://www.
nssl.noaa.gov/projects/vortex2/media/quickfacts.php) on 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
 4. "VORTEX Southeast" (https://www.eol.ucar.edu/field_projects/vortex-se). Field Projects.
NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory. Retrieved 2017-05-15.
5. Williams, Jack (1997). The Weather Book (https://archive.org/details/weatherbook00will_0)
(2nd ed.). New York: Vintage. pp. 132 (https://archive.org/details/weatherbook00will_0/page/
132)–4. ISBN 978-0679776659.
6. "VORTEX2" (https://web.archive.org/web/20190212065208/http://vortex2.org/home/).
Archived from the original (http://www.vortex2.org/home/) on 2019-02-12. Retrieved
2014-05-19.
7. Rasmussen, Erik. "About Rasmussen Systems LLC" (https://web.archive.org/web/20131126
042208/http://rasmsys.com/About/About.html). Rasmussen Systems. Archived from the
original (http://www.rasmsys.com/About/About.html) on 2013-11-26.
Rasmussen, Erik (2007). "Severe Storms Research: Erik Rasmussen and Collaborators" (ht
tps://web.archive.org/web/20070804032052/http://cimms.ou.edu/~erik/). CIMMS. Archived
from the original (http://cimms.ou.edu/~erik/) on 2007-08-04. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
Mathis, Nancy (2007). Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado (https://archive.org/deta
ils/stormwarningstor00math). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0743280532.
Davidson, Keay (1996). Twister: The Science of Tornadoes and the Making of an Adventure
Movie (https://archive.org/details/twisterscienceof00davi_0). New York: Pocket Books.
ISBN 978-0671000295.

External links
Rasmussen Systems (https://web.archive.org/web/20140103021040/http://rasmsys.com/)
NSSL awards (http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/about/awards/)
Erik N. Rasmussen (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1927033/) at IMDb
J. Vesilind, Priit (Apr 2004). "Chasing Tornadoes" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100112165
744/http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/chasing-torna
does/). National Geographic. Archived from the original (http://environment.nationalgeograp
hic.com/environment/natural-disasters/chasing-tornadoes/) on January 12, 2010.

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