The historic flood of 2008 impacted communities across Eastern Iowa, destroying homes and businesses. For John Brammeier, it was the beginning of a fascination with the weather.

During the worst of the flood, Brammeier remembers bringing food, water, and other essentials to his aunt whose house bordered the Cedar River. The interior of the house was destroyed and had to be entirely remodeled. The wreckage and his natural affinity for math and science drew Brammeier to pursue a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Iowa.

Brammeier works at the Iowa Flood Center located in the Stanley Hydraulics Lab

He works with Iowa Flood Center (IFC) Director Witold Krajewski, whose work using X-band weather radar to monitor precipitation is what drew Brammeier to Iowa. Krajewski maintains a network of four X-band radar units that collect data on precipitation and are being tested for possible use in flood-prone communities. Brammeier collects the radar data and compares them to information collected by IFC rain gauges across the state. He also experiments with the accuracy of the radars.

“The algorithms that are used for the data processing— there’s a lot of them out there,” Brammeier says. “I’m experimenting with a lot of them to see which one will give us the best results.” He explains that the Iowa Flood Center maintains rain gauges in many of the watersheds, so there’s a good chance that he can compare the radar data to the rain gauge information.

One of Brammeier’s other jobs is presenting the weather briefing at the weekly IFC meetings. He gives an update on the coming week’s weather based on forecast models to make sure everyone is prepared.  As for the future, Brammeier is interested in finishing up his degree and getting a job working at a weather agency.

Brammeier (left) played several years with the Muscatine Riverhawks

Brammeier’s interests don’t end with meteorology; he spends his limited free time at his parent’s farm in Wilton, Iowa, or on the football field. As a semi-professional football player for the Muscatine Riverhawks, Brammeier says he is lucky not to have had an injury up to this point. Though it’s called semi-professional, the job isn’t paid, so those who do get injured and need medical attention pay for it out of their own pockets.

As far as the farm is concerned, Brammeier is still thinking about the weather.

“We’re doing a little bit of tillage today and we did some yesterday, but it’s still pretty wet so who knows if it’s going to work out.”