As a boy growing up in the foothills of the Appalachians of West Virginia, I didn't always want to be a meteorologist. My passion was in astronomy, and I was going to be the first man on Mars! But at the age of nine, while catching "crawdaddies" in a creek in Sutton, West Virginia, I was hit in the back of the head with what I thought was a rock. Turning around I saw a cascade of white stones falling down the side of the mountain.
It was a hailstorm, and from it, a rare West Virginia tornado touched down and wiped out a camping resort on the other side. From that point on, my interests turned to atmospheric science and the study of severe local storms. West Virginia is not known for its severe weather, so I headed to the Midwest where I earned my degree in meteorology from Purdue University, and then my Master's at Texas Tech where I also had the opportunity to be captain of the Texas Tech Tornado Intercept Team.
I then planned to attend Texas A&M for my Ph.D., but found that the television stations in Texas were equipped with advanced weather technology that allowed me to pursue my research interests in severe local storms and radar physics. So I headed to Amarillo where I became lead forecaster at the NBC affiliate for nearly ten years. And then I got the call to come to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and I am honored to be working at a station that not only has the best weather equipment in the nation, but with a staff that is equally impressive. Thanks for watching and giving this West Virginian a few minutes of your time!
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