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Timo Strom Meteorologist

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Timo's Story

Name: Timo Strom
Job title: Meteorologist
Years/months at Ice Watch/idverde: 7 years, 10 months. Coming up to 8 years and heading into my 9th winter with Ice Watch 2023!

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your background?
I was born in Northwest London with my twin brother, to an American mum and German dad. I went to school in Hendon and then I went on to study Meteorology and Oceanography at the University of East Anglia where I met my now wife. We have been married for over 2 years and live in a town called Woodbridge in East Suffolk. I am a big sports fan in general. My favourite teams are the St Louis Cardinals (Baseball), the Green Bay Packers (NFL) and Arsenal for all my sins, although it is nice to finally be near the top again! I like watching movies and tv shows, some of my favourites include The Prestige, Interstellar, Peaky Blinders and Game of Thrones – I think I am one of the very few people who didn’t mind the ending!

What is a typical day like for you in this role?
A typical gritting day would be to complete off all the gritting jobs from the previous night and collate any important job information to pass on to the rest of the team. Then between 10am-12pm we import our forecast csv file into our system and start to make gritting decisions for the night ahead. Once the decisions have been made, our system processes all the jobs. We make sure notifications to our operator and customers have been sent and monitor customer cancellations until 4pm. We also make sure all operators confirm their jobs for the night ahead and this process is then repeated the following day. Other parts of my role include helping out with any reports customers need, helping out administratively, making sure the jobs are all ready for invoicing at month end, help with developing and testing new systems, managing the systems and making sure they are working the way we need them to, working with our forecast supplier DTN in managing all of our forecasts and making sure every site has the most accurate forecast possible.

What are some of the projects or achievements that you’re most proud of, and why?
I do a lot of self-reflection but never really think about what I am proud of, more what I can do better and how I can improve. At the end of each season I am proud of the Ice Watch team for getting through another successful winter, which I am sure will be the case again next year!

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What is a work-life balance to you?
I like to keep my work life and home life separate. As soon as I get home, I try to not think about work so I can focus on other things. This is a bit more difficult in winter but this is when it is most important! I would rather stay at work a bit later and finish whatever I need to do than bring it home with me. No matter how you do it, I think it is important to have that balance because you have to wind down after a hard day’s work and enjoy other aspects of life!

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out in your field or pursuing a similar passion?
Work hard, be reliable and have fun!