Katie Ward

CCM

Meteorologist

Biography

Katie Ward is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist with over 10 years of experience in the field. Katie is a valued member of the Meteorology Consulting team at YA Group, where she provides expert analysis and reporting for engineering and forensic meteorology applications.

She holds a Master of Science in Applied Meteorology and a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology from Plymouth State University. As an undergraduate, Katie participated in a convective wind climatology project in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in collaboration with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron. During her graduate studies, her research returned her to Cape Canaveral, where she evaluated a stand-alone lightning detection sensor.

In her professional career, Katie has conducted numerous site-specific and regional extreme precipitation studies and contributed to the development of meteorological algorithms addressing hazards associated with severe storms. Leveraging her expertise in precipitation analytics and severe weather assessment, she delivers detailed, data-driven insights to support forensic investigations and engineering evaluations.

Credentials

  • CCM | Certified Consulting Meteorologist

Representative Consulting Assignments

  • Commercial Buildings | Rainfall | Evaluations of precipitation volumes affecting buildings.
  • Residential Structures | Rainfall | Assessments to determine quantity and timing of precipitation impacting buildings.

Professional Experience

  • 2025 - Current | Meteorologist | YA Group
  • 2021 - 2025 | Senior Technical Scientist | Verisk Weather Solutions
  • 2019 - 2021 | Senior Meteorologist | DTN
  • 2014 - 2019 | Senior Meteorologist | MetStat, Inc.

Area of Practice

  • Forensic Meteorology 
  • Litigation Support

Publications and Presentations

  • October 2024 - Ward, K.L, Bethany Fay, Lauren McCarthy, 2024: “Identifying Tornadoes in Near Real-Time Using Polarimetric Radar Data”, 31st Conference on Severe Local Storms, October 2024, Virginia Beach, VA.
  • March 2021 - Ward, K.L., Hope Mizzell, 2021: “HydroMetPortal: Extreme Precipitation & Flood Alert System”, South Carolina Association of for Hazard Mitigation 2021 Conference, March 2021, Virtual
  • June 2019 - Ward, K.L., Victoria Bahls, Tye Parzybok, Hope Mizzell, 2019: “South Carolina’s Extreme Precipitation and Flood Alert System.” 2019 National Hydrologic Warning Council Annual Meeting, June 18-21, 2019, Louisville, KY.
  • January 2019 - Ward, K.L., Tye Parzybok, 2019: “Extreme Precipitation from 2018 Hurricane Florence: Timeline, Post-Analysis and Communication of Rarity.” Major Weather Events and Impacts of 2018, 99th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, January 7-10, 2019, Phoenix, AZ.
  • 2018 - Ward, K.L., 2018: “Hurricane Florence Historic Precipitation: Meteorological timeline and communicating precipitation frequency through social media.” Dams and Levees, Bulletin of the U.S. Society on Dams Fall 2018 Issue.
  • April 2018 - Ward, K.L., Tye Parzybok, 2018: “Leveraging ALERT Gauge Data in the Colorado Flood Threat Bulletin.” 27th Flood Warning Systems Training Conference, April 16-20, 2018, Ventura, CA
  • June 2017 - Laro, K., T. Parzybok, C. Porter, A. MacKenzie: Cloud Computing for Near Real-time Precipitation Analytics. 2017 National Hydrologic Warning Council Annual Meeting, June 5-8, 2017, Squaw Creek, Olympic Valley, CA.
  • January 2017 - Laro, K., B. Wells, T. Parzybok, C. Galli, J. Young: Nationwide Precipitation Gauge Measurement Acquisition, Quality Control, and Integration into Hydrometeorological Applications. AMS 2017, January 2017, Seattle, WA.
  • April 2016 - Laro. K., T. Parzybok, A. Hendricks: A MetStorm Analysis on the Lower Mississippi River Valley Storm of March 2016. The National Hydrologic Warning Council Transmission April 2016.

Education

  • Plymouth State University - Master’s of Science - Applied Meteorology - Plymouth - New Hampshire
  • Plymouth State University - Bachelor’s of Science - Meteorology - Plymouth - New Hampshire

Affiliations

  • American Meteorological Society
  • Association of Certified Meteorologists

Licenses

  • 797 - National - Certified Consulting Meteorologist