About Me
Like with many children, bad thunderstorms scared me. However, despite fearing thunderstorms, I loved snow. I feel fortunate to have grown up in a time when I had to wait and watch weather related school closings crawl across the TV screen to see if my school was included. Of course, joy ensued if it did.
While Kansas City’s January 30, 2002 ice storm mesmerized me, the May 2003 tornadoes struck fear in me that lasted years. It was probably around this time I started getting my interest in meteorology, even if I hadn’t realized it yet.
Tornadoes and snowstorms made up the most of my noteworthy weather experiences in childhood until I moved overseas to live on the small Caribbean Island nation of Dominica when I was 14 (that adventure lasted nearly 3 years). During our time there we were fortunate not experience any direct hits from hurricanes or tropical storms, but my time there helped blossom an interest in tropical meteorology. In 2017, after the horrifying category five hurricane Maria made direct landfall on the island, I waited tensely for days for any information about the catastrophic damage and the well-being of several friends.
As time went on the fear of severe weather gradually passed and began to turn into a curiosity after years of watching these seemingly magical people on television know when it was going to storm or snow. That also started my interest in journalism.
Kansas City, KS tornado. Courtesy: NWS Kansas City
Hurricane Maria as it made landfall on Dominica. Courtesy: NOAA
After graduating from KU, I moved north to Lincoln, Nebraska. My most memorable experience was covering the Nebraska flooding of 2019. A coworker and I were sent north to Norfolk where flooding intensified and trapped us in town for three days before we were finally were able to take a long, but secure, detour home.
After a little under two and a half years in Nebraska, I moved southeast to Kentucky. The Ohio Valley is an underrated challenge in forecasting. Here I’ve gained more experience with ice forecasting, and learned how much more impactful snowfalls can be in this part of the country. My environmental storytelling also escalated as I told stories about things in our world that affect our weather and livelihood, even if we don’t experience them every day.
Aftermath of Nebraska flooding: fields of pasture turned to fields of sand.
The largest, most impactful weather event in my time in Louisville was the tornado outbreak the night of December 10-11, 2021 featuring the horrifying, Mayfield, Kentucky tornado. An all-hands-on-deck event, the entire weather team was on air for nearly eight consecutive hours, even before tornadoes threatened homes in our immediate viewing area. I will never forget the look on my Chief’s face when I showed him the initial death toll from Mayfield. That’s when it really hit me we were experiencing a historic event.
Aftermath near Saloma, KY from the night of the December 10-11 outbreak.
Seeing the aftermath and hearing the stories of survivors – even one year later when I followed up with some families – made me realize the importance local meteorology still has in the world. The task of all meteorologists, I believe, is to serve, inform, and protect the public.
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After nearly five years in Kentucky, my new adventure has taken me west to Denver, Colorado. Here I expect to encounter more wild and unusual weather as I tackle the challenge of mountain meteorology.