Illness Puts Unique Weather Forecast on Hold

Jerome Namias, a nationally known meteorologist at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is in good condition after a Nov. 11 stroke, officials at Sharp Memorial Hospital said Tuesday.

But Namias, 79, who for 15 years has offered unique, long-range weather forecasts, will not make a forecast this December, according to Dan Cayan, a Scripps meteorologist who helped form the forecasts.

“This forecast has always built so much from his personal experience, intuition and the like,” Cayan said. “It really was his product.”

Namias began building his reputation among meteorologists decades ago. He was one of the forecasters used by the Allies to pick a weather window in which to invade North Africa, and during the 1960s he developed monthly and seasonal predictions while chief of the National Weather Services’ extended-forecast division.

In the mid-’70s, Namias gained national recognition when he began releasing the long-range forecasts. Namias calls the forecasts “an experimental prediction,” giving a broad indication of weather patterns, not day-to-day or week-to-week predictions.

For several years, Namias’ long-range forecasts were released about the same time as forecasts by a former protege, Donald Gilman. The two have an ongoing friendly rivalry, Namias once said.