Hurd Curtis Willett

Who was Hurd Curtis Willett?

Hurd Curtis Willett was an American meteorologist, known for his role in developing five-day weather forecasting techniques and widely known for his attempts at very-long-range forecasting.

Willett grew up near Pittsburgh, and earned a doctorate in meteorology from George Washington University in 1929. He joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology staff in 1929, where he headed the development and adoption of the polar front theory of five-day weather prediction by the Weather Bureau. In 1951 he received a plaque from the American Meteorological Society for Extraordinary Scientific Achievement. This was the initial prize award of what is now known as the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal.

Willett was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Meteorological Society, the Royal Meteorological Society, the Association of American Geographers, and the American Geophysical Union.