After an almost 33-year career at the National Weather Service, Indianapolis Meteorologist in Charge Dan McCarthy is retiring.
Dan received his master's degree in meteorology in 1984 from Saint Louis University. During his career, his specialties were in severe storm forecasting and severe storm climatology.
McCarthy had an incredible background in severe weather forecasting, which was extraordinarily valuable when he came to Indianapolis. McCarthy worked at the Storm Prediction Center for more than 12 years, from 1995 to 2007, as a Mesoscale forecaster and as the 1st SPC Warning Coordination Meteorologist.
From the Storm Prediction Center, McCarthy came to the Indianapolis National Weather Service Office, taking on the role as the Meteorologist in Charge.
McCarthy has also written nearly two dozen conference papers on tornadoes, hail, damaging winds and severe weather cases.
During the May 3, 1999 Oklahoma City tornado outbreak, a total of 74 tornadoes touched down across two states. According to the National Weather Service, there were as many as four tornadoes on the ground at the same time. McCarthy put out a severe high risk for the area prior to the outbreak and was involved in many damage assessments afterward.
Prior to working for the National Weather Service, McCarthy worked as a broadcast meteorologist.
McCarthy has been a presenter at numerous workshops for the National Weather Association, American Meteorological Society and Universities across the country.
He has also had several guest appearances on National programs, including CNN, the History Channel, and MSNBC.