I never had a run-in with a tornado as a child, but for some reason have always had a weird fascination with the weather. Growing up in Litchfield, Minnesota, just 7 miles from Darwin (home of the worlds largest ball of twine), gave me an opportunity to see all sorts of exciting weather...except tornadoes.
After high school, I left home and went to college at Metropolitan State College of Denver for a degree in meteorology. Laughing at the idea of ever being one of those TV weather guys, I got my degree with a minor in mathematics and planned on being a pilot. Make sense? Of course not. I found that I enjoyed talking about weather more than deriving Newton's Laws of thermodynamics, and in my senior year got an internship in the weather department at the NBC station in Denver.
From there I went to KFDA in Amarillo, Texas for a few years where I finally had the chance to see a few tornadoes and learn the ropes of TV. My wife Julie and I moved back home to Minnesota in 2002 and love life with our two kids, Drew and Owen, and large dog Duncan in southeast Rochester. When I'm not changing diapers or fishing the spring creeks of southeast Minnesota, I'm forecasting and talking about the weather. All of this (even the diapers) is an honor and a privilege, and I'm glad that I can bring you the forecast every Monday through Friday evening here at FOX 47.
Hey teachers! Drop me an email and we can schedule a time to visit your classroom to talk about the weather.
