A 7-year-old in Wisconsin rushing to the basem*nt as a tornado moves in nearby.
A childhood fascination with winter storms.
A love of sharing all things related to weather.
Those are just some of the things that inspired our meteorologists, or “mets” as we lovingly call them, to become weather experts.
For World Meteorological Day, we sat down with some of them to chat about why their job is so cool.
What do you love most about being a meteorologist?
Chris Dolce: Weather is always changing, so it’s hard to get stuck in a rut with boredom doing the same thing day in and out. There’s always something new and interesting to seek out, tell stories about and, most importantly, learn about.
Jon Erdman: Every day is a new opportunity to help people stay ahead of potentially hazardous weather and teach them how weather can affect their lives. But my favorite part of the job is stumbling across something amazing in social media - that one jaw-dropping video, perhaps something we haven’t seen before - and explaining that to our users. There’s always interesting weather going on somewhere in the world.
Linda Lam: I feel very lucky that I am able to work in weather, an area that I have loved since I was a child. There is always something interesting with the weather either happening now or coming soon. One of the best things about this job is that I help get the message out to people when dangerous weather is possible, so they can prepare.
Jonathan Belles: My goal each day is to be able to walk people through their day, whether it be just getting to work or school, or getting them through the worst day of their lives. We have an obligation to make everyone’s lives easier and I love being able to do that each day, while also being able to share some really cool stuff along the way.
What’s your earliest weather memory?
Jon: When I was 7 years old, a tornado tracked through my hometown of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. I never saw it, but rushed down to the basem*nt with my Mom and sister after a family friend frantically called and warned us. No more than 30 seconds later, we were thankful it only ripped a few shingles off the house and turned a swingset upside down. Others in the city weren’t so lucky. Years later, I learned Dr. Theodore Fujita, the father of tornado research, surveyed the damage in my town.
Chris: When I was also about 7 years old, I can recall my mother pointing out a subzero temperature displayed on the thermometer outside our house. I didn’t grasp the significance at the time, but it's a very rare occurrence for where I lived in Atlanta. Beyond that, I have plenty of early memories of watching The Weather Channel with my Dad and running from the dinner table to watch the local television meteorologists report on the weather each evening.
Jonathan: Waiting to see if I had school the next morning by reading the scroll at the bottom of the local news in upstate New York when I was probably 5 or 6 years old. After my county name showed up, we’d typically flip the channel to The Weather Channel to watch whatever the winter storm was. This happened a lot when I was a kid and I probably did it most winter days until I was 12 or so when I moved to Florida.
Why did you become a meteorologist?
Jon: That day in April 1980 sparked a lifelong fascination with weather, especially severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. I wondered why the western sky was so dark and why clouds were racing in the “wrong direction” - from east to west - as we pulled in the driveway before the tornado struck. More so, I wanted a career that involved forecasting and warning the public of all hazardous weather.
Chris: As long as I can remember, I’ve always been drawn to weather and aviation, both of which are naturally intertwined in the atmosphere. I loved both, and even took flying lessons for a time. When it came down to a decision, my passion for weather was too strong and I didn’t like the idea of being away from home for days at a time, flying as a pilot. Becoming a meteorologist was an easy decision after mulling that over.
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Linda: Growing up just west of Boston, I was fascinated by and had a desire to understand snowstorms. I wanted to understand why sometimes we had rain when we thought we’d see snow or even the town next door had several inches of snow. I also experienced two hurricanes and the power of those storms drew me to learn more.
Jonathan: Now, my mother would tell you that watching The Weather Channel as a tyke is what did it. In my mind, though, moving out of New York in feet of snow and then having to do a 180 and prepare for Hurricane Charley in 2004 is what did it. My brain was blown away in watching TV, then holding onto the windows on our house so they didn't blow in … and then doing that several more times that season is what got me into watching weather.
What’s one weather event you’ve covered that you’ll never forget?
Chris: The April 27, 2011, tornado super outbreak is a vivid career memory that I’ll never forget. Tracking the outbreak of tornadic supercells as the day wore on, the pit in my stomach grew larger and the devastation was hard to comprehend. The fear I felt in that outbreak drove my wife and I to sell our house for one that had a basem*nt. Officially, 199 tornadoes in 15 states were tallied on April 27, 2011, a record for any calendar day in the U.S.
Jon: I’ll never forget working as a weather producer for The Weather Channel the morning of Katrina’s landfall. The roller coaster of emotions from the dread of landfall, to initial hope of sparing New Orleans, to receiving that first report of “flash flooding” in the city, to the pummeling of Mississippi and finally the horrible aftermath is something I hope we both never forget and never see again.
Linda: My first day at The Weather Channel was in September 2009 and was the day of the big floods in Atlanta. I had just moved to the region and had no internet or cable hooked up yet, and was surprised by how much it had been raining in the few days since I moved in. I heard on the radio about roads being closed and when I got to work, I realized how unusual and serious it was for 10 to 20 inches of rain to fall in the metro area in 24 hours.
Jonathan: A very different experience is one that I’ll probably remember forever. During my time at Florida State, we had a significant ice storm sweep through North Florida and South Georgia. Most of our staff at FSU Weather was from Florida and had very little experience with ice storms, but here we were trying to figure out the storm. We spent hours developing forecasts then staying live during the storm. Interstate 10 was rerouted along campus. It was a really big deal.
What have we seen in recent weather history that tells us climate change is happening right now?
Jon: Where to begin … according to NOAA, the planet’s 10 warmest years dating to 1850 have all happened in the past 10 years, including 2023’s record warm year. The planet’s oceans have been setting warm records, for the time of year, since last March. All this is happening while greenhouse gas levels, both carbon dioxide and methane, continue to climb.
Chris: I’m not sure I can add much more to the preponderance of evidence outlined by Jon.
Jonathan: Every so often, I’ll get asked if I hear about people walking uphill both ways to school in the snow any more. This is typically a joke, and schools have the option of remote days now, but those sort of days are more infrequent than they were even a decade ago. I also think we’re seeing yearly that people along the coast, from Florida to Massachusetts, are dealing with more coastal flooding without massive storms, a sign of sea level rise.
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This article is part of the United Nations Development Programme’s Weather Kids campaign. Click here to learn more and take action to fight climate change.
Weather.com reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.
