Sunny weather is rarely thought to be a cause of boredom, but when it comes to meteorology, this seems to be the case.

NIU’s staff meteorologist Gilbert Sebenste says the best time to be a meteorologist is when severe weather is possible. The number of phone calls and e-mails he receives is an indication of what the weather is.

“It can be zero to five on days when it is sunny, like last week. I got very few calls,” Sebenste said. “When there is severe weather, sometimes it can ring almost non-stop. The e-mails will just come pouring in. I have literally had days when I have gotten 1,000 e-mails and dozens and dozens of phone calls. It’s nice to know you are loved, but ‘wow.’”

The “love” Sebenste receives fuels his passion for meteorology and helping people to remain safe.

“The best part of my job is keeping people safe and saving lives. And helping out in any way I can in that process,” Sebenste said. “When bad weather comes, we do not want people to get hurt or killed.”

The passion for weather began at the age of four for Sebenste, which to him is the approximate age that many meteorologists discover their desire for it.

“I just found what was going on in the atmosphere fascinating,” he said. “Thunderstorms scared me to death. Of course, now I chase tornadoes.”

As the only staff meteorologist at any university across the nation, Sebenste finds himself in a privileged position, and is honored to be able to do his work at NIU.

“We serve as a model for other universities who are trying to get these programs started as well,” he said. “I know Penn State, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, among others, are trying to get full-time faculty or staff to do what I’m doing.”

NIU’s reason for hiring the staff position makes a lot of sense, considering the area it is located in.

“We get a lot of severe weather here,” he said. “If you have been here the past four years, you’ve experienced the threat of tornadoes, one of the worst flash flood events in our history, blizzards, high wind storms, very bad ice storms; I mean you name it, anything and everything except for hurricanes, we’ve got.”

Though he advises the administration on approaching weather, he jokes that he cannot be bribed to tell them to cancel classes.

“I can’t,” he laughed. “I stick with the facts and tell them ‘hey it’s going to be bad or no it’s not.’”

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