Jim Stefkovich

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Jim Stefkovich (born c. 1961 in Franklin, New Jersey) was the meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service's Weather Forecast Office Birmingham from May 2005 to the end of 2016.

Stefkovich graduated Franklin High School in his home town, and earned a bachelor of science in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University in 1983. He began his career with the Weather Service in Silver Spring, Maryland in 1982 while still in school. Since then he was worked in Lake Charles, Louisiana; Waycross and Atlanta, Georgia; Forth Worth, Texas; and Jackson, Mississippi before being promoted to meteorologist-in-charge of the Chicago Forecast Office in 2002. He succeeded Ken Graham as head of the Birmingham Forecast Office in 2005 and led the local bureau through several periods of severe weather, including the devastating April 2011 tornado outbreak. The Birmingham NWS office installed a television studio during his tenure in 2015, a move questioned by some as possible government competition to independent media outlets. Stefkovich also served with the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

Stefkovich retired effective December 30, 2016. John De Block and Kevin Laws were assigned to jointly fill the position on an interim basis until a director could be hired. He and his wife, Barbara, have two daughters.

References

  • "New Meteorologist-in-Charge to Manage NOAA's National Weather Service Forecast Office in Birmingham." (May 2, 2005) NOAA press release
  • Morgan, Leigh (November 3, 2016) "Head of National Weather Service office in Birmingham to retire." The Birmingham News