Harold Klieforth

Harold E. Klieforth

Harold "Hal" E. Klieforth, resident of Bishop, CA, and Reno, NV, died 12 July 2014 at the age of 87. Hal was born in San Francisco in 1927. He grew up in San Anselmo in Marin County, CA. At a young age, Hal developed a remarkable curiosity and sense for the outdoors and natural history. He went on to achieve a B.S. and M.S. in meteorology from UCLA that positioned him as a project scientist on the Sierra Wave Project 1951-1954 (Owens Valley, CA) and the Mountain Wave-Jetstream Project in 1955 where he flew on several sailplane missions as a scientific observer. Hal also received a Fulbright fellowship to Imperial College, London from 1956 to 1957. He served as chief meteorologist with U.S. Air Force Geophysics Research Directorate at Edwards AFB, CA from 1958 to 1964. In 1965, Hal joined the Desert Research Institute in Reno as meteorologist and forecaster for the cloud seeding program where he maintained a precipitation observation network that transected portions of the Sierra Nevada and encompassed much of the Lake Tahoe watershed from 1965 to 1996. Hal remained a professor emeritus at DRI until his death helping on projects, assisting students, and sharing his intimate knowledge of the Sierra Nevada. Hal was a fierce observationalist, particularly of mountain clouds, and documented historical trends with photography and hand-written logs. He never said no to a hike and was known for his extraordinary physical stamina until weeks before his death. Hal possessed a modest and genuine manner and relished assisting others. An incomparable void remains with his loss. Hal is survived by his younger sister, Diane Klieforth, and his two sons, Robert and David Klieforth. All are invited to a small gathering to celebrate the life and friendship of Hal at the Snowflake Pavilion at Idlewild Park (corner of Idlewild & Cowan) in Reno Friday, September 5, 2014 from 6-8pm.