So you want to be a TV Meteorologist?

Let me start off by saying I love my job!. I will admit it was never a dream of mine to become a TV weather forecaster. The all happened by accident when the boss asked me at my first job in Abilene, Texas if I would like to give weather a shot. But the wheels actually got turning on the idea back in 6th grade. The National Weather Service used to host tours at LAX back in the 1970's. I was lucky enough to go on a field trip and our guide was none other than Dr. George Fishbeck of KABC TV. Who would have thought that I would one day end up working at the same station some 20 years later.

Being a Southern California kid also meant I would have to change my views of weather. I remember my first couple of days on the air in West Texas and I mentioned a storm was on the way and how bad that was for everyone. I was quickly reminded by the stations agriculture reporter, Harry Holt that rain is a good thing, especially here in West Texas. Being from Southern California I always remember rain as a bad thing. Freeway accidents, local flooding, etc. But I have never forgotten that advice and over the years have learned just how important rain is to all of us.

My first training came while living in Abilene. I lived only a mile from Dyess AFB. The base was to become the first home of the B1-B Bomber. Weather was certainly important to flight testing and many of the top notch pilots lived in my apartment complex. They suggested I got out to the base and talk to the onsite Meteorologist and see if I could get some training. I also called the local NWS office in Abilene and they were more than willing to help me.

For the next three years I covered and forecast numerous severe weather events in West Texas. The Sweetwater Tornado on April 19, 1986 was the first time I learned just how devastating a Tornado could be and the importance of early warning systems. I also learned that TV weather forecasters have no real work hours. Despite a normal shift, you were expected to be on call 24/7. Countless night I stayed past the late news to stay on the air when the threat of severe weather was in the area. The funny part. The station I worked for, KRBC only had a daytime broadcast license. So once the Tonight Show was over we stayed on in between old episodes of Flipper and Gentle Ben that we used to cue up ourselves.

For the next several years I bounced around to various stations doing weather and news in Bakersfield and Fresno. Than one day I got a call from WFAA TV in Dallas about a weather opening. Clearly this was one of the top stations in the country and best weather markets to work in if you love weather. I was offered similar positions in Seattle and Sacramento. But given a choice I picked Dallas because if I was going to make the transition away from news, I wanted to do weather in a city where life and property really depend on it.

The learning curve was steep in Dallas. Hurricanes often threatened the Texas coast. Tornadoes and severe storms in the spring were common. Dallas also got it's share of black ice and even snow once or twice a season. I remember the station was often concerned about making sure crews got in safe and sound on mornings when roads could become too dangerous to drive on. So it was left up to your weather forecaster to alert management when they might want to book a few dozen hotel rooms at the near by Hyatt to keep people from driving in to work in the middle of the night for the morning show. I never got much sleep that night worried that I had blown the forecast and the cost of those hotel rooms would come out of my paycheck. How excited I was when I woke up at 2 AM to see a blizzard outside the window.

That is the funny thing about weather forecasting. I do not know of another job where you can be wrong so often and still keep your job. That is not to say that you will not get fired if you do not get it right more than 50% of the time. Speaking of percentages, weather forecasters often use percentages to tell you what the chance of rain is. I learned along time ago from the Chief Meteorologist at WFAA, Troy Dungan not to use percentages in my forecasting. What does a 30% chance of rain really mean?. Does it mean a 70% chance it will not rain?. Or does it mean it will rain over 30% of the forecast area. Troy said "just tell them if it going to rain or not". If you get it right everyone will be happy. If you get it wrong, some will complain but most people understand it is not an exact science.

So you still want to be a TV Meteorologist?. Training and experience are most important. Some are trained Meteorologist while others look and sound good on TV and have very little knowledge. But that is where experience comes in. I always tell people it is like driving a car. Just because you get a driver's license does not make you a good driver. That comes with years of practice on the road. Weather forecasting works much the same way. I have been lucky to work with some of the best in the business. Some have degrees in Meteorology others did not. But they all have many more years experience that I had and all shared a great passion for weather. They were all great communicators on getting the information out on a daily basis and most importantly during severe weather.

I went back to college recently do finish up a Meteorology program I started 20 years ago. This allowed me to qualify for the American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval or AMS. I guess it proves that you are never too old to go back to school. But I will tell you the training is not easy and despite three years of very difficult class work you can in fact teach an old dog new tricks.