Celebrating National Weatherperson's Day

AccuWeather

Hear from the team of AccuWeather Network's meteorologists to learn how and why they got their start in the field.

Transcript

00:00There's no doubt that I got my love for the weather and my passion for

00:04meteorology from my dad, who remains a big weather fan. I grew up in the

00:09northwestern suburbs of Philadelphia and there would be many storms when we would

00:12be kind of dreading the approach of the rain-snow line. We'd like to hold on to

00:17snow, maybe a little bit of ice to keep things interesting. It could be

00:20disruptive, but it is fascinating and it still is a fascination to this day. This

00:25picture is when I was 14 and a half during the blizzard of 96, which even

00:31after living in places like Erie, PA, this storm for me brought more snow than any

00:36storm I have ever experienced there in the Philadelphia suburbs. Over 30 inches

00:40of snow and my hope is that for me and for many of us who love the weather here

00:44at AccuWeather, we can help to inspire some passion for the weather in the

00:48younger generation and some other viewers as well. I grew up loving the

00:53outdoors. I spent a lot of time outside and at the beach, so it's no surprise

00:58that weather fascinated me. I quickly learned that knowing the weather was

01:02very important. When I was a kid, I remember several hurricanes like

01:05Hurricane Dennis. The storm made landfall in North Carolina in September of 1999,

01:10but hundreds of miles away in New Jersey, I was able to play in some big ways. To

01:15this day, hurricanes still fascinate me and are a large reason why I chose to be

01:20a meteorologist. Well, I'm thrilled to share the story of how I became a

01:24broadcast meteorologist. It all started back in fifth grade when one of my

01:28classmates' fathers visited our class to talk about his job as a meteorologist. I

01:32was fascinated by his passion for weather forecasting and all the science

01:36behind it. From that day on, I would eagerly check, yes, the AccuWeather

01:40forecast map and temperatures in what was our local newspaper at the time, and

01:43every morning I would look at the weather and decide my outfit based on

01:47the forecast. As I grew older, I would excitedly tell every adult I met that I

01:51wanted to be a broadcast meteorologist, and trust me, they never let me or anyone

01:55else forget it. Now here I am living my dream and sharing the weather with all

01:59of you every day and hopefully helping you dress so you are comfortable in any

02:02type of weather. In this video, I was a freshman at Penn State and I was still a

02:09theater major, but still clearly excited to see snow, and I made that decision to

02:15switch from theater to meteorology. Of course, I still use my theatrical skills

02:20and all the knowledge that I obtained while a student here, but I'm able to

02:25apply it a little bit more to the weather. So I caught my weather weenie

02:29bug in the seventh grade. We were watching a video about tornadoes and I

02:33knew right then and there that I loved weather, especially severe weather, but

02:39it's really all kinds that I get excited about. Well, I know a lot of people might

02:43point to pictures like these and say, this is what I found my love for weather.

02:47My story's a little bit different. When these pictures were taken, weather was

02:51just something that happened. I wasn't really paying much attention to it, and

02:55as a kid, I wasn't really into math or science that much. I was more of an

02:58English and history type student, which led me to a journalism major in college,

03:03and then a job as a TV news reporter. That's when I met some really amazing

03:07meteorologists and started to learn about the science behind weather and just how

03:11interesting it is. And as a journalist, I wanted a job where I could help people,

03:15and I learned that maybe weather was the best way to do that. So I went back to

03:19school to learn more about the science behind weather, and now here I am doing

03:23my dream job sharing that important and sometimes life-saving information with

03:28all of you. Well, I was born and raised in Oklahoma, so I had a front row seat to

03:33the wildest severe weather you can imagine, and growing up there, I always

03:37wanted to do two things. I wanted to be a TV meteorologist, and I also wanted to

03:42serve my country, and I had the opportunity to do that in the Marine

03:45Corps for five years. Whenever I got out of the Marine Corps, I was able to use the

03:48GI Bill to pay for school, going to the University of Oklahoma, getting my

03:52bachelor's degree in meteorology. After that, I had a couple stops in Texas,

03:56Kansas, Oklahoma, and then I had the opportunity to come here to AccuWeather,

04:00where I used my severe weather expertise to forecast some, once again, of the

04:04wildest weather we have here across the United States.

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