UW expert on clouds dies at 69

SEATTLE – Scientific adventurer Peter V. Hobbs, who flew over Mount St. Helens within hours of the 1980 explosion and ventured into thunderstorms and cyclones trying to understand how rain and snow form, has died at 69.

The renowned University of Washington researcher, who died Monday of pancreatic cancer, broke new ground in the area of meteorology during 30 years operating an airborne laboratory. Colleagues say one of the most impressive aspects of his career was that he managed to acquire, equip, maintain and operate a series of airplanes without any guaranteed year-to-year research money.

“He was an enormously successful and entrepreneurial scientist,” said John M. Wallace, a UW colleague who was co-author with Hobbs of a popular atmospheric science textbook for graduate students, “Basic Physical Chemistry for the Atmospheric Sciences.”

Hobbs published more than 350 peer-reviewed papers and several books. He was honored by the university as an outstanding lecturer and researcher, and his colleagues say he pioneered several areas of study, including the impact of pollution and volcanic emissions on clouds.

Born in London, Hobbs became hooked on observational meteorology at age 10 during a visit to the British Meteorological Offices’ headquarters. He then built his own instruments, including a wind vane, and went on to earn his Ph.D. at the Imperial College.

In 1963, he was invited by the UW to join its teaching faculty in the Atmospheric Sciences Department and develop a new program in cloud and aerosol physics.

Hobbs has said he moved to Seattle because it is “the cloud capital of the world.”

He acquired his first research plane in 1969 and eventually flew into clouds over the Cascades, volcanic dust in Alaska, oil smoke in Kuwait and anything else he and his colleagues wanted to study.

Hobbs’ efforts transformed a fledgling program into one of the leading atmospheric science groups worldwide.

His discoveries about ice crystals in clouds are a cornerstone of modern weather-prediction models, said UW meteorologist Cliff Mass, a former student of Hobbs and his longtime jogging partner. He also studied the role of aerosol pollutants in dampening the effects of global warming.

Just last year, he reported the largest raindrops on record: nearly grape-sized droplets over Brazil and the Marshall Islands.

“Peter was undoubtedly the leading airborne meteorologist of his generation,” Mass said. “His range of subjects was amazing.”

Hobbs is survived by Sylvia, his wife of 42 years; sons Stephen, Julian and Rowland; three grandchildren; his mother; and three siblings.