Why meteorology? Growing up in the Chicago area meant four distinct seasons. It meant big snowstorms in the late fall, winter and early spring and thunderstorms constantly throughout the spring and summer. Oh, did I mention the extreme cold and wind chills? There’s a lot of changing weather that I had questions about and didn’t get all the answers.
Weather has always fascinated me. I remember as a child hearing the tornado warnings and rushing down to our basement taking cover under our ping-pong table in order to protect our family from a destructive tornado (like that thin table would protect us from the large wood beams and two stories of house above). I remember my father standing in the front yard gazing to the sky telling me everything would be just fine – I soon found out he wasn’t always right.
Tell me about your journey to the KVIA studio. I worked at the NBC affiliate in Amarillo covering weather. Kevin Lovell, the General Manager here at KVIA, would visit the Panhandle on occasion (he’s originally from that area). He contacted me about the morning position at KVIA back in 1999. I came for a visit and have been here ever since.
Describe what it was like covering twisters when you lived in “Tornado Alley.”There’s a lot of excitement and a lot of pressure. The television stations up there cover about 40 counties over a four state area (eastern New Mexico, southwest Kansas, Oklahoma Panhandle, Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma), which can all have different weather. When tornadoes develop, it’s a weather event that needs to be taken very seriously. You have to be accurate and get the information out to the public in a hurry. People who live in extreme weather hotspots like Amarillo are very weather literate. You can throw out severe weather terminology such as lifted index, helicity and cape and they know exactly what you are talking about and what the numbers associated with these terms mean.
I remember being contacted many times in the middle of the night to come in and cover severe weather or even having to work 15 hours shifts tracking tornadoes until the early morning hours. There were numerous occasions where, if I wasn’t working on air, I was out chasing tornadoes with folks from all over the country including The Weather Channel. You get to see the devastation that tornadoes can cause from tossing and killing cattle to demolishing homes and businesses.
Tell me about covering the flood in 2006. This was certainly something I will never forget. It’s like covering a hurricane in Florida or the Gulf Coast where you are literally on the air for hours tracking the storm. It took all the resources of KVIA to get the job done and the station certainly spared no expense covering this event and getting valuable information out to our audience. During these big weather stories viewers are fixated to their television craving information and wanting detailed weather reports on how much rain fell, how much more we expect and what areas have been impacted the most.
Describe a typical workday. I get up around 7 a.m. to give a local weather report to a radio station. It’s at that time that I look over the updated morning computer models and get a fresh look at the weather for that day and upcoming week. If we have a lot of changing weather (storms heading our way) I’ll spend a little more time throughout the day glancing at the computer keeping abreast of what’s happening.
My television working day begins around 2–2:30 p.m. every afternoon. Again, I start off looking at the computer models and preparing my forecast. This also involves making the graphics and animations that you see each night during the weather segment. I also voice the weather reports for three radio stations along with updating our webpage forecast and keeping the newsroom updated on what weather is coming our way.
Our first newscast is at 4 p.m. so most of my weather graphics and weather analysis needs to be completed by this time. Once the 4 p.m. newscast is complete I then focus on the 5 and 6 p.m. news. Following the 6pm news I record a couple of forecasts for our 24/7 weather digital cable channel (channel 367) and post a forecast for our webpage (kvia.com). Then it’s time for a supper break followed by the 10 p.m. news.
What is the biggest misconception about your job? It’s that we copy the forecast from the National Weather Service. While I do look at that forecast on a daily basis, I pride myself by looking at the computer models and doing my own analysis. I’m paid to forecast and give my opinion on what I think will happen. If I’m wrong, I’ll take the blame – I have no problem with that.
When you’re not in the studio, what can we find you doing? We home school our three boys – at least my wife does. I try to keep our three-year-old occupied while my wife focuses on our 6 and 9 year-olds. I like to spend time with my kids whether it’s riding bikes, watching them play in-line hockey, going to the park or just hanging out with them. So many people have advised me to enjoy this time because if goes by so fast – so I’m doing that.
How do your sons react to seeing their dad on TV? They’re getting a little older so they notice me a little more on television, although getting the latest weather report is not high on their list. They tend to critique me more than anything. Last week my oldest boy recorded the weathercast and told me how funny it was to see my wireless microphone box sticking out from behind my jacket (he said it made my rear-end look big).
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Editor's Note: This article was originally published in the May 2009 issue of El Paso Magazine.
