WTKR/WGNT In 2021, I made a big TV market jump from Bowling Green, KY (181) to Norfolk, VA (42). I was hired as the weekend evening meteorologist and did the 10 PM show Wednesday-Friday. In 2022, the 7 PM show was added to my duties. In late 2022, we went from a team of five meteorologists to a team of four. Since that change, I have filled in countless times on all of the morning and evening shows. When I'm not filling in, my shows are Noon, 4 PM, 7 PM, 10 PM Wednesday-Friday and weekend evenings.
Twice a year, the weather team produces a weather special -- one in the winter and one in the spring for severe weather season. We were awarded an Emmy for our 2022 First Warning to Severe Storms weather special by the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. This chapter reviews entries from all media outlets in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Coastal Virginia and northeastern North Carolina have all kinds of weather to keep our team busy. In January 2022, we had back-to-back snow storms. In May 2023, we had an EF-3 tornado rip through a populated portion of Virginia Beach that myself and the chief meteorologist were on-air covering. In September 2023, we had a direct hit from Tropical Storm Ophelia. I have covered almost every type of big weather event in this market from winter weather to tornadoes to major tidal flooding. It certainly keeps me on my toes! Outside of my typical meteorologist duties, I also have a weekly animal segment primarily showcasing different locations in the community you can bring your pets. Occasionally, I feature other cool animal stories like the sea turtle nests and whale migrations in Virginia Beach. Most of these stories are entirely shot, written, and edited by myself. When we have large community events happening, I usually get to go live in our broadcasts from those events, showcasing what's going on and providing a short weather forecast. |
WNKY and WGTA I began my on-air meteorologist journey in May 2018 at WNKY in Bowling Green, KY. Right out of college, I was hired as their morning and noon meteorologist. From January 2019-May 2019 I was also the morning news anchor on SoKY Sunrise while still being the full-time morning and noon meteorologist. Following that double duty stint, weather returned to being my only priority, but I still occasionally anchored as needed.
In 2019, SoKY Sunrise won "Best Morning Newscast" in the state of Kentucky by the Kentucky Broadcasters Association. In 2020, it was a finalist for "Best Morning Newscast" again, but came up just short of taking home the title a second time. I was also a finalist for the 2020 Kentucky Broadcasters Association's "Best Weathercast" award, finishing as runner-up. In early 2020, I was given the opportunity to provide weather for our sister station, WGTA in Atlanta, GA. I forecasted, created graphics and provided four one-minute cut-ins for their station to air throughout the morning. While providing weather for the greater Atlanta area, I also remained the full-time morning and noon meteorologist for WNKY. Up until COVID-19 and social distancing regulations, the evening meteorologist and I put on a weekly podcast in association with some of our local radio stations. WNKY Weather Weekly focused on more in-depth weather discussions in relation to the weather we were experiencing that week or just general viewer questions. Outside of the studio, I loved participating in the many community events! One of my favorite events each year was Clear the Shelters. |
KTTC/KXLT Internship From May 2017 - August 2017, I interned at KTTC/KXLT in Rochester, Minnesota. Throughout majority of my internship, I worked in the weather department. Each day, I forecasted for the DMA, discussed my forecast with the chief meteorologist, published our forecast to both the website and app using Intellicast, typed and sent out a forecast discussion via email to our viewers using Intellicast, inserted closed captioning for the weathercast into iNEWS, informed the staffed meteorologist of any changes in the rundown, and updated the weather graphics the staffed meteorologist used on-air in TruView Max. I would also occasionally write a conversational forecast piece for the daily paper, the Post Bulletin. If there was severe weather present, I would monitor radar, social media, the NWS chat room and keep in constant contact with the newsroom to receive any damage reports. I then relayed any pertinent information to the meteorologist on-air.
Soon after I got into the swing of things, a new weekend meteorologist was hired and I was able to help show her the ropes. I spent my last three weeks as a multimedia journalist in the newsroom. I traveled to events happening across the DMA, interviewed attendees, recorded footage and created VOSOTs using Avid NewsCutter and iNEWS. |
WRAL Internship From May 2016 - August 2016, I interned in the weather center at WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina. I worked side-by-side with the meteorology team and occasionally with the reporters.
Each meteorologist and I would create an individual forecast for the viewing area, then got together and decided as a group what our published forecast would look like. I helped create some of their new graphics that launched in July 2016 using Fusion. If severe weather was present, I would monitor social media and the NWS live chat and relay pertinent information to the team while they were on-air. In my down time, I revamped a section of WRAL's weather website and worked on a research project that investigated how useful weather app icons are. |
Campus Weather Service Since I began attending Penn State in 2014 until I graduated in 2018, I was involved in the Campus Weather Service. Once a week, I forecasted the weather for a region of Pennsylvania and recorded radio broadcasts using Audacity for our Pennsylvania clients. Every few weeks, I recorded a video forecast for the State College area using WSI TruView Max with Storm and TriCaster 7000. I then edited these videos using Adobe Premiere Pro and uploaded them to our platforms. My senior year, I was promoted to shift manager and managed a team of five other meteorology students. I also recorded video forecasts for C-Net Channel 7 and Centre County Report. When extreme weather events occurred across the country, I reported on them with the Live Broadcast Team.
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Storm Chasing On May 11-20, 2015, I storm chased with 11 other Penn State students over 5,500 miles across 16 states, from Pennsylvania to Colorado.
I storm chased again May 8-15, 2016 with 10 other Penn State Meteorology students. We traveled across 13 states and over 4,200 miles. Together, we witnessed our first tornado in Atoka, Oklahoma on May 9, 2016. My last storm chase trip was May 7-14, 2017 with 13 other Penn State Meteorology students. On this trip, we traveled 4,300 miles and spotted one tornado. Throughout all three experiences, we put our skills to the test and watched what we learned in our classes develop before our eyes. |
Up in the Air During the 2016-2017 academic year, I starred in Up in the Air. Up in the Air is a 15-minute weekly broadcast produced by Penn State Meteorology students that bridges the gap between climate, weather enterprise and the business community.
As a team of five, each month we went through a rotation consisting of on-air and behind-the-scenes work to get experience in every aspect of broadcasting. One week I would be the on-air meteorologist and give a climate outlook for the United States. For two weeks, I would be on-air as an anchor/reporter. And for the final week in the month, I would run the cameras, sound and graphics behind-the-scenes. Then, at the start of the next month, the cycle repeated. |
Live Centre County Report Every Friday Live Centre County Report airs live at noon on the local PBS channel, WPSU. Live Centre County Report is a 30 minute College of Communications student-produced news broadcast. During the 2016-2017 academic year, I was the fill-in meteorologist. During the Spring 2018 semester, I was one of two full-time meteorologists on the show.
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Weather or Not Throughout the 2017-2018 academic year, I starred in Weather or Not, a 15-minute Penn State Meteorology student-run television show airing on C-NET. A team of five other students and myself provided the residents of central Pennsylvania with the latest nature in the news stories, their weekend forecast and an in-depth look at how weather ties into everyday life.
Each week, the six of us rotated positions between being the host, forecaster, multimedia journalist, producer, director and production assistant. |