4/22 - 6:30pm - Great Start to the Week, Rain Ahead in Starkville

Today's weather has been just perfect for our Earth Day here in Mississippi but tomorrow is going to be even better! Temperatures will top out in the middle 70's with a few clouds around so be sure to make time for outdoor activities tomorrow. Rain and storms will move through as a cold front does during the morning hours of Wednesday, but luckily no severe weather is anticipated with this. We'll clear out the storms for the end of the workweek. Check out my LAST-EVER Mississippi State University CampusConnect forecast below. It's been a great four years here in Starkville and I'm going to miss all of the great folks down here. I'm looking forward to my new beginnings at WAVE 3 in Louisville!

1/30 - 7pm - Fulfilling a Childhood Dream in Weather and Television

Watch the video for Ryan's big announcement!

Back in the mid 90's I began having a fascination with weather thanks to my childhood fear of thunderstorms. In particular I can remember going to the basement for the storm that eventually generated the May 28th, 1996 tornado in parts of Jefferson, Bullitt, and Spencer Counties in Kentucky near the Louisville area. The TV was turned up loud so we could hear it from the basement and the voice I remember was John Belski's, who was chief meteorologist at WAVE 3 TV in Louisville. His was a calming voice in the middle of the chaos that was going on outside as this supercell storm moved through town. As I watched him after Jefferson County was cleared from the tornado warning I realized that he had the coolest job in the world. He worked with computers (check!), forecast weather events (check!), got to talk to lots of people everyday (check!), and most importantly saved lives during severe weather with his information (double check!).

While other childhood dreams came and went, this particular fascination with weather and my desire to get a degree in meteorology never fluctuated. In middle school I had finally made up my mind that becoming a meteorologist would be the ultimate end game for me. Since then I've been working every single day to make sure that I could become the best meteorologist that I could be. WAVE 3 was a huge part of this because John Belski and others would routinely post things on the Internet that I could learn from. I grew to really enjoy watching this station as a student because the meteorologists who worked there were different. They each knew the area very well, used sound science in their forecasting, and most importantly, had a passion for weather I've not seen anywhere else. This hasn't changed.

I was fortunate enough to intern with Kevin Harned, Brian Goode, and the rest of the WAVE 3 Storm Tracking Team over the summer and quickly realized that Louisville and WAVE were still home to me. I know a lot of people like to leave home once they go to college and into a career but after seeing so many different places in my years of storm chasing, working in TV, and going to college I found that the best one for me is right at home in Kentuckiana. But never did I think that I would be able to return there so quickly.

That's right. If you haven't guessed it yet (or watched the video at the top of this post), I'm announcing today that my childhood dream of becoming a meteorologist in Louisville at WAVE-TV will become a reality in late May after I graduate from Mississippi State. The position I've accepted has me as a meteorologist on WAVE 3 Sunrise Saturday and a social media and marketing graphic artist for the rest of the week while still assisting the Storm Tracking Team in their online offerings. This brings the number of hometown meteorologists on the WAVE 3 Storm Tracking Team to 6. Yes, 6! That's an astounding amount of resources for a TV station and it's only going to aid in serving up the best weather forecasts and information for Kentuckiana. This is a fantastic opportunity and I'm still trying to comprehend just how amazing it is. I'm looking forward to being back home in my city, my Louisville, and doing what I love most. Thanks to all who've supported me over the years. This is big stuff!

7/10 - 11:55pm - A Tale of Two TV Stations

Let's start with weather first, shall we? Today was hot in Louisville, much hotter than anticipated because dry air that made its way into the area allowed temperatures to rise quite a bit. We're talking about a high temperature that was 95 degrees today, which even though is very warm, it was still cooler than what we experienced during last week's massive heat wave. Tomorrow should be a little cooler as moister air moves in again from the south.

Daily rain chances will be ramping up Thursday in Louisville as a trough develops to the west of the Mississippi River. It's already been raining in West Tennessee a bit this week, but more is on the way through the weekend as this trough gets its act together and a warm front moves northward. The rain is still needed in West Tennessee as drought conditions persist throughout the region. This rain will keep temperatures down in both regions, which is good news after all the heat! Between this past morning and Sunday morning there could be over 6 inches of rainfall  in West Tennessee and North Mississippi according to the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC). Flash flooding issues may crop up in some of the heavier thunderstorms.

Now, to the two TV stations. The first TV station in question here is WBBJ-TV in Jackson, TN where I'll be at on Saturday and Sunday night doing weather. It's been nearly three months since I've been on air in West Tennessee so I'm happy to be coming back this weekend and next weekend too for the Saturday night shows! The second TV station in question is WAVE-TV in Louisville. Today I went in to meet with Kevin Harned and the gang at the station and came out a WAVE 3 Weather intern. This has been "in the works" for awhile but today it was made official and I'm extremely excited to be sharing this news! I'll be at WAVE a couple days a week until mid-August. My duties will be mostly web-based with social media, blogs, etc, but I'll also assist with any needed TV-related tasks. I'm so thankful to be able to intern at the station I grew up with and to work with such a great team of meteorologists!

8/19 - 4:30pm - Weekend Rain on the Way, Belski Retiring

It's been one busy week at MSU so far! Classes have begun and it's time to get back into the swing of things. It's also been a rainy week around here, with nearly an inch of rain since the 14th in Starkville. We could add to that total tomorrow afternoon with storms that fire off during the heating of the day, but I think our best chance of rain will come on Saturday as a surface low (the remnants of TD 5) moves to the Eastern seaboard. We'll be keeping an eye on a couple cold fronts that could make their way down here next week (like Monday, left image), but for now expect temperatures in the low to mid 90's and a daily chance for afternoon rain after this weekend.

WAVE-TV meteorologist and good friend John Belski is retiring after over 30 years on the air in September. John has been one of my main inspirations for getting into broadcast meteorology after growing up watching his cheerful, informative, and oftentimes humorous forecasts. Throughout the last few years John has supported me greatly as I've made the transition from wanting to be a meteorologist to getting the education needed to be one. You may recall when John put me on the air during a job shadow I did at the station back in 2007... That was completely his idea to do that and I haven't been the same since. Since then I presented a forecast with him on TV as part of a contest at WAVE back in February 2009 and this spring Kevin Harned (now chief meteorologist at WAVE) and I sent video updates to him during my annual storm chasing trip. Louisville will surely miss John's forecasts and especially his blog, which is probably one of the most successful local weather blogs in the nation. TV news is one of the fastest-paced industries in the country and John was always at the technological forefront. Kevin Harned will do a fantastic job as his replacement and I'm sure that WAVE will continue in their tradition of having an exceptional weather department.

Just as one career is winding down, another is just beginning. I received some great news today about an opportunity I've been pursuing and I can't wait to share it with everyone. There are still some details to be worked out, but I assure you that the news won't disappoint. I'll have all the specifics on this in a few weeks.

7/7 - 10:30am - WAVE-TV Storm Chasing Video / Heat Continues

WAVE 3 News aired a segment last night about Kevin Harned's storm chasing trip with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours. The piece used some of my and another tour driver's tornado video to tell the story of our once-in-a-lifetime tornado intercept near Campo, Colorado on May 31st. View the news segment below:

This video is available in 720p or 1080p high definition

The heat continues here in Louisville, but a break from it is on the way. We could get very close to 100 degrees in the city today, with a repeat of that performance tomorrow. Dew points won't be extremely high, so heat index values will stay near or at 100. An approaching cold front will give us a good chance for rain on Friday, the first appreciable shot at rain in well over a week. After the passage of that front on Saturday, we'll see temperatures drop to around 90 for highs next week.

7/6 - 3pm - Storm Chasing Video on WAVE 3 News Tonight!

Tonight at 11pm on WAVE 3 News, meteorologist Kevin Harned will be showing a piece on his storm chasing trip with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours. You'll recall that Kevin and I saw a large, photogenic tornado in Colorado while we were out there, so you won't want to miss tonight's newscast. My video along with some from one of our other drivers on the tour will be shown during the piece. Here's an ad that WAVE has been airing over the past few days for tonight's segment:

The tropics have been hinting at some development for the past couple of days, but no organized storms have come to fruition out of the disturbed weather. One area of concern near the Yucatan Peninsula has a 30% risk for becoming an organized storm, but that's the only one for now.


Temperatures in the Northeast are extremely hot today. High pressure that has settled over the area is allowing things to really heat up. Temperatures near Philadelphia are around 100 degrees right now and numerous heat advisories and excessive heat warnings are in place.

Around here in Louisville it's still very dry! We haven't seen any rain in over a week, but an area of low pressure passing through on Friday will finally provide a good chance for some as the weekend begins. After seeing temperatures in the upper 90's tomorrow and Thursday, the front associated with the low coming through on Friday should take temperatures down to around 90 for the weekend. Stay cool!

7/3 - 11pm - Nice Weather for the 4th / Storm Chasing on WAVE 3

As high pressure persists around the Ohio Valley, we'll be seeing wonderful July 4th weather. Temperatures will top out around 92 tomorrow in Louisville with dew points in the mid 60's. That translates to a warm day without the oppressive humidity we saw last week. Most high-resolution computer models are placing a chance for some isolated rain showers in here tomorrow afternoon, but I don't think the probability is high enough to warrant any change in plans for Independence Day activities. Be sure to use sunscreen tomorrow if you participate in any outdoor festivities as the UV index will be high.

On Tuesday at 11pm, WAVE 3 will be airing a segment about Kevin Harned's June storm chase in the Great Plains with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours.You won't want to miss it if you're in the Louisville area because some of my tornado video from Campo, Colorado will air and you may even catch a few glimpses of an interview with me that WAVE recorded in May. It was awesome to storm chase for a month out in the Plains, and wrapping up my trip by seeing a picturesque tornado with Kevin was just the icing on the cake.

5/28 - 11:45pm MDT - An End to a Great Week!

Not one thunderstorm developed in Wyoming today while we were out there. The cap (warm layer of air above the surface that inhibits storm development) was on too tight today and all the cumulus cloud development we saw was suppressed. Storms didn't even develop in North Dakota as forecast due to capping issues and surface winds becoming westerly earlier than forecast. At least we had a nice tour of Southeast Wyoming!

Storm Chasing Adventure Tours is saying goodbye to the guests on tour 4 tomorrow morning here in Denver and welcoming our new guests for tour 5 tomorrow night. Tour 5 is going to be very big, with 24 people in four SUVs. I won't be the only Kentuckian out here for much longer either. WAVE 3 TV meteorologist and good friend Kevin Harned from Louisville will arrive here tomorrow to begin chasing with us as a driver and forecaster.

It looks like we'll start out chasing on Sunday in either Kansas, Oklahoma, or the Texas Panhandle. A pair of disturbances pushing through the Plains next week should make most of the week pretty active, but there may be a couple down days.

5/7 - 4:30pm - Leaving for Storm Chasing Tomorrow!

I'm flying out to Amarillo, TX tomorrow morning to begin my month-long Plains storm chasing trip with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours. We'll start chasing on Sunday, but I think the real action could come on Monday when an outbreak of supercell thunderstorms could affect Central Oklahoma and Kansas. I'll be posting updates, pictures, and HD video clips from our chase right here on my blog until June 5th when I come back to Louisville. Don't forget that you can get up-to-the-minute updates from my trip by following me on Twitter or friending me on Facebook.

I made a visit to WAVE-TV today in Louisville to do an on-camera interview for a storm chasing news piece that will air on or around May 21st.

Meteorologist Kevin Harned (who interviewed me today) will be joining us on our chase from May 29th to June 5th. It's going to be great fun to have two guys from Louisville out there looking for tornadoes!


A strong line of thunderstorms will make it's way through the Louisville area tonight, bringing with it the possibility of damaging winds, hail, and maybe even a tornado. Even without the thunderstorms, a Wind Advisory is in effect until 8pm. There's a greater risk of severe weather tonight in Indiana and into Ohio with the possibility of tornadoes up that way (tornado risk probabilities from the SPC are posted to the left). From East Mississippi, to Louisville, and to the Great Plains, severe weather seems to follow me around!

I'll post here tomorrow when I get to Amarillo and I'll also post a few travel updates on Twitter and Facebook if you want to see where I am!

4/29 - 12am CDT - Final Exams/Derby/Storm Chasing

It's been a long week of packing and final exams at Mississippi State University. I finished my chemistry, world geography, and calculus II final exams this week and I'll be taking my English composition II exam just before I leave for Louisville this evening. My car is just about packed (yes, all of my stuff really does "fit" in my Honda Fit) and I have just a few more hours here on campus before I depart this evening.

I'll be returning home just before the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Right now I think we may have some weather trouble on Saturday as a pair of low pressure systems to the west try to turn north as they near the Mississippi River. Heavy rain will be a major issue for Derby according to the latest computer models. There's even a risk for some severe weather around the region at that time, but I think heavy rain will be the bigger story around the Ohio Valley. If you think the infield at Churchill Downs is crazy during good weather, get ready for a muddy mess in the heavy rain. I'm a bit concerned that there may be ongoing thunderstorms near the 6 o'clock hour, which might mean a postponement of the Derby. We'll see how the weather situation develops!

You've probably noticed that I switched out the banner of the blog to prepare for my upcoming storm chasing trip. I just can't believe that I'm only 9 days away from a month's worth of storm chasing in the Plains with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours. I'll be bringing you 1080p HD video, pictures, chase reports and more on this blog and through my Twitter and Facebook accounts daily during the chase. I'm looking forward to meeting all our new and returning guests this year on our tours. Meteorologist Kevin Harned of WAVE 3 TV in Louisville, who has been a tour guide and severe weather expert with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours for years, will be joining us during my last week of chasing starting May 29th. It'll be great to have another Louisvillian out there with us, and I'm sure Kevin will be broadcasting his own storm chasing updates on WAVE 3 throughout the week.

All the storm chasing action on my blog starts May 8th!

7/31 - 6pm - Wills' Send Off, Memphis Severe Weather

Tom Wills' retirement after 40 years was well celebrated on WAVE 3 Sunrise and WAVE 3 Listens this morning. Well wishes from both current and past WAVE staff ranged from sincere to downright hilarious, but all were in good taste. Tom judged my seventh grade science fair project at the Louisville Regional Science Fair in 2004, and I must say that he was very kind to all of the participants. (For those wondering, my project on the Doppler effect didn't win that year. Next year's project on floppy disk data loss due to electromagnetism did win 3rd place though.)

WAVE introduced Tom's replacement this morning, Christie Dutton from Lexington, Kentucky. She's worked in Hopkinsville, Lexington, and Cincinnati, so she's no stranger to the region. Her last meteorology position was with WXIX Fox 19 in Cincinnati, and you can read her bio here. She starts broadcasting next week after some training. The thing that intrigues me most is where her broadcast meteorology certificate came from: Mississippi State University! I certainly wish her well and hope we continue getting more MSU meteorologists in Louisville in the future!

Memphis had quite a few problems with severe weather yesterday, including an EF1 tornado that damaged numerous homes and businesses just east of town. 12,000 MLGW customers lost power just after the storm as well.
[WMC 5 Memphis]

7/30 - 4pm - Heat Easing in the Northwest

The Northwest has been hammered by extreme heat over the past week or so. The Portland and Seattle areas have seen all-time record high temperatures in the 100's this week. The National Weather Service offices in those areas have certainly had their hands full trying to keep up with all the records broken, along with issuing Excessive Heat Warnings. Luckily, the forecasts for both Seattle and Portland seem to have temperatures easing into the 90's today and 80's tomorrow. Click here to see a record temperature report from the Portland National Weather Service office.

Take a look at yesterday's storm reports from the SPC:


Notice all the tornado reports in Eastern Colorado, an area that was hit pretty hard earlier this season. Seven confirmed tornadoes touched down in this area yesterday, causing minor damage. [NWS, CBS4 Denver]

Tornadoes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania caused quite a bit of damage yesterday. The confirmed EF2 tornado in Sussex County, New Jersey damaged farm buildings, but luckily caused no injuries. The tornado in Stroudsburg, PA was also an EF2, but caused two injuries and damaged homes along with farm buildings.
[NWS, SPC]

Looks like it could be a bit wet for retiring WAVE TV meteorologist Tom Wills' Louisville Bats baseball game this evening. Scattered storms are forming along the Ohio River now and more rain is coming up from the south. Looks like the game may start out dry, but rain could set in later in the evening.

7/29 - 7pm - Comings and Goings

There are only 9 days left until I go down to Mississippi State University. It's extremely exciting, but at the same time I'll miss being in Louisville. In any case, I'm happy to be at one of the best places in the nation for meteorology!

Meteorologist Tom Wills officially retires from WAVE TV on Friday after 40 years of service. In honor of his career, the Louisville Bats will be hosting a "Tom Wills Night" during their game against the Toledo Mud Hens starting at 7:05pm tomorrow. It looks like there may be some storms in the area during the game tomorrow, but it should be a great time either way! Tom Wills' replacement will be announced on Friday morning during WAVE 3 Sunrise.

Kentucky's new Mesonet system (a network of automated weather reporting stations) is slowly coming online. This is great for Kentucky because it will allow for greater monitoring of micro-scale weather phenomena and should give residents in rural areas better access to current conditions in the region. Click here to go to the Kentucky Mesonet's website.

7/26 - 1pm - Back From Alaska!

After two weeks of traveling through the Alaskan frontier, I'm back home recovering from such a great trip. I couldn't post on here yesterday because I was so tired from the overnight flight and I'm still trying to overcome the jet lag.

While I was gone, it was pretty cool in the Louisville area. The highest temperature we've had this July was 89 degrees. Not having any 90's in July is very rare and we may even break a record with that if things stay cool through the end of the month.

Looks like the rest of this month will remain below normal according to the Climate Prediction Center's latest forecast:


On to other news... Tom Wills retirement at WAVE TV is coming at the end of July. He will be greatly missed in the Louisville community and I'm sure it will be nice for him to retire after so many years at WAVE. The search for a replacement meteorologist is on at WAVE, especially after posting the position as being available on Raycom's (parent company of WAVE) website:

WAVE 3-TV, the NBC in Louisville Kentucky (DMA 50) is looking for an experienced meteorologist to join our award-winning weather team. We take pride in being the market leader for severe weather coverage with an aggressive team of veterans who know how to showcase technology, own breaking weather coverage, and execute brand in their presentation. Primary shift is for the weekday 2-hour morning and 1-hour Noon newscasts, while also servicing our radio partnerships with live and taped weather updates, and recording weather segments for our digital channels during the scheduled shifts.

It'll be interesting to see who they pick. Broadcast meteorology job openings in Louisville are few and far between, so this is certainly a big opportunity for someone out there!

5/20 - 6pm - Showers This Weekend

A few scattered showers will be around for the weekend, but I'm thinking these won't hit most areas around the region. The main rain will get here on Tuesday after a round of showers on Monday. We may have another shot at some scattered storms on Wednesday and Thursday, but I expect next weekend to be fairly dry. Still looking at highs in the 80's until the middle of next week.

Severe weather is hard to come by in the Plains states this week, but the Storm Chasing Adventure Tours team is in action chasing a thunderstorm (not severe) in Nebraska right now. WAVE-TV's Kevin Harned is out there chasing with the group this week. Check out the live video stream (which has been off and on all afternoon) at Storm Chaser TV http://stormchasertv.com, which I finished designing last month.

17 days until storm chasing begins!

4/26 - 9pm - Tom Wills Retiring at WAVE-TV

After 40 years at WAVE-TV, meteorologist Tom Wills has officially announced his retirement. While it won't happen until June, Mr. Wills will be missed in both the meteorology community and within Louisville as a whole. Luckily, he might come back to the station once in a while to do fill-in work.

I met him once at the Louisville Regional Science Fair back in 2004. I had my seventh grade science fair project on the Doppler Effect and Tom Wills was one of the judges in the earth sciences category. He was a real approachable guy and said not one bad word about my project, even though it was in the wrong category (I needed to be in physics) as I later found out.

40 years is a long time to be working at any one place, especially in the broadcast business. I'll miss his good cheer on 84 WHAS in the mornings when I'm up early for school, but hey, he doesn't have to wake up at 2:30AM anymore! To read the full article that ran in yesterday's Courier-Journal, click here. To read Kevin Harned's blog entry on Wills' retirement, click here.