Charles “Chuck” Doswell III, professional meteorologist and avid storm chaser, died on Jan. 18.
After getting his bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Doswell earned his master’s and doctoral degrees at OU.
Doswell married his wife, Vickie Doswell, in 1975. The couple moved away from Norman for 10 years and returned in 1986 when he was offered a job at the National Severe Storms Laboratory.
Doswell was a Vietnam War veteran, serving in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1972 before joining the Navy Reserve for six years.
A longtime Norman resident, Doswell went to work for OU after retiring from the NSSL in 2001. He worked as a research meteorologist, focusing on both energy and weather. Doswell retired from the university in 2015, but not without leaving an impact.
A coworker and friend of Doswell, Kim Klockow McClain, senior social scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, called Doswell a “maverick” of his field.
“He came up with methods to try to observe the real world and use that as his ground truth to inform the science,” McClain said.
She said there was a lack of technology available to meteorologists when Doswell first started out. According to McClain, Doswell changed modern forecasting expectations.
“He really inspired so much of the quality that we think about even still today,” McCain said.
According to his wife, Doswell also helped other countries create their own severe storms laboratories. Vickie said he consulted with the Chinese government about storm research and helped start the European Severe Storm Laboratory. He is also credited with helping start the Canadian Severe Storm Lab.
“His legacy in weather is pretty much sealed,” Vickie said.
Doswell also had a passion for storm chasing. He was featured in the 1996 documentary “Chasers of Tornado Alley,” which follows storm chasers documenting severe weather.
Vickie Doswell spoke about how her husband stood out, saying, “My husband was the only storm chaser wearing a straw cowboy hat.”
On his blog, Doswell often discussed storm chasing and his experiences with it.
“Your self disappears when you have that deep sense of being a small part of the majesty and glory of the natural world,” Doswell wrote.
As a friend and mentor to McClain, Doswell was always supportive and open.
“He invited anyone in to talk with him, to learn from him,” McClain said.
McClain said Doswell was “passionate about the truth.”
He was the first person to question anyone, she said, and broke things down to their principles in order to prioritize truth in his field.
She said, “What I really learned from him were a lot of life lessons on how to conduct myself as a scientist.”
In his personal life, Doswell enjoyed scouting. He was the assistant scoutmaster of Boy Scout troop 777 in Norman. He loved hiking and camping, especially with his children, Heather and Chad, Vickie said. Doswell was also an outdoor photographer, with works in magazines such as National Geographic.
Despite his capability to be a “curmudgeon,” Vickie shared, “He was always a very loving husband and father.”
Doswell is survived by his wife, Vickie, his children Heather Graff and Charles “Chad” Doswell IIII, and his three grandchildren.
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure, Ismael Lele and Ana Barboza. Geethika Kollu and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
