Gregory S. Forbes

Who is Gregory S. Forbes?

Gregory S. Forbes is The Weather Channel's current severe weather expert and has a significant research background in the areas of severe storms and tornadoes.

Born and raised near Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Forbes earned a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology at Pennsylvania State University. He studied tornadoes and severe thunderstorms at the University of Chicago, where he obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. There, Dr. Forbes studied under famous tornado scientist Ted Fujita and his thesis was regarding the 1974 Super Outbreak where he and Fujita researched in areas hardest hit to help determine which thunderstorms can spawn the most intense tornadoes. It was by then that he helped confirm that the hook echo can produce the strongest tornadoes.

Dr. Forbes served as field manager for the Project NIMROD, the first measurement program to study damaging thunderstorm winds from downbursts and microbursts. He then joined the faculty in the department of meteorology at Penn State in 1978, where he taught courses in weather analysis and forecasting, natural disasters, and other topics until joining The Weather Channel in June 1999. Dr. Forbes has had a variety of experiences outside of the classroom, including surveying the damage paths left by about 300 tornadoes and windstorms, including Hurricane Andrew and Typhoon Paka. As part of his research at Penn State, he was lead weather forecaster for numerous field research programs around the country.