I grew up in California, Texas, Arizona, and in Germany. For a number of years I wanted to
work for the airlines flying commercial jets, but quickly found that weather forecasting was my calling.
I got my first job in 1984 composing the daily weather page for a Dallas area newspaper.
It paid peanuts, but it got me some experience and disciplined me into analyzing the weather consistently
and taking accountability for my work.
Several years later I went into the Air Force as a meteorologist.
I was honor graduate in their weather training program and was hand-picked to work for
the F-117A program at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada.
The day I was escorted into a hangar and got to see the plane up close was probably the most
surreal moment of my career, as at the time the public only had a vague idea what it looked like.
As a forecaster, my briefings and forecasts were used mostly by the B-1B Lancer force at Dyess AFB
and by UN Command in Korea. I did get to participate in some high-profile operations like
the Operation Support Hope
humanitarian mission into Rwanda, the 1994 English Channel D-Day anniversary B-1B flyover, and
Space Shuttle mission STS-59's ferry flight back to Kennedy through Dyess.
I also filled in on weather for KTXS-12 in Abilene for about a year and helped the station get up to speed when
it made the plunge on a Kavouras Triton weather graphics system.
I then did weather for AFKN (Armed Forces Television) in Seoul, Korea. I was probably the first
person to bring Doppler weather radar
to South Korean television, and perhaps to AFRTS itself, though there were no big tornadoes to be seen.
In 1998 I parted ways with the Air Force -- it was a great experience and I'd do it again.
In the late 1990s the tech boom was in full force, and I did well carving out my own niche in private consulting.
I developed mainstream and custom
meteorology packages, wrote meteorology books, ran seasonal storm chase forecasting services,
trained forecasters, and authored a longtime Weatherwise magazine department.
All of these things I continue to do to this day.
I currently live in Norman, Oklahoma and am married with a beautiful wife and a bright, enthusiastic son.
My areas of interest include meteorology, geography, earth sciences, astronomy, general
philosophy, 20th century history, and Cold War and Vietnam War studies.
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