My Weather Girl Story

People are surprised when they find out I have a career, and what it is.  Being a pool player, most of the people I'd meet in the bars at my age in the 90s didn't exactly have a career or profession.  I was one of the exceptions back then.  And then when people would find out what my career is, they would be even more shocked.

But I think how I became a Meteorologist, is the bigger story.

I was going to write how I became a Meteorologist on my personal blog, but the people who know me personally as ME, know me over here on my pool blog.  So, I'm taking the plunge to share some details how it was meant to be I became a meteorologist.

It's funny, everyone has a weather story when they find out what I do for a living. Kind of like pool, when I tell people my passion is pool, they all tell me how good they are. ;)

First of all, I am not on any TV channel; I am not a weather person on TV.  I get asked that the most.  The second most common question is, "what is that star?" as the person looks up into the sky, pointing.  That's an astronomer.  I am a meteorologist:  "the science dealing with the atmosphere and its phenomena, including weather and climate."

So how does one become a meteorologist?   For most people, it's usually the love of the weather; and most specifically, severe weather.  Many people have an extreme interest for weather and all that comes with it, even tornado chasing. I, however, firmly believe weather found me.

My Mom owned some land in the Texas Hill Country about an hour and a half from where I grew up in San Antonio.  Near Garner State Park/ Uvalde/ Concan.  If you've ever been lucky enough to visit the area, you know how beautiful and memorable the Texas Hill Country is.

My Mom and I would go the Frio River almost every weekend when I was a child, literally.  I swam in the Frio River, hiked all around the area, and camped out with my Mom for years and years.  Even when my Mom remarried, we would still go out there every other weekend.  We would camp out and float on The Frio River from when I was about 8 years old to 14 years old (about the time we don't want to do things with our parents anymore).

Photo I took of the Frio River, in the Texas Hill Country.

My Mom would start to look at the forecast about Wednesday of every week to see if the weather was good enough for us to go away for the weekend.  She did this for YEARS.  One day I finally told her, "Mom, I will just become a meteorologist so I can tell you the weather."  Little did I know that would seal my fate.

In 7th grade we had career day, but for some reason, each class only got one professional.  One!  I still do not know why to this day only one professional came to each class, instead of them visiting all the classes throughout the day.  Anyway, my class happened to get, yep, a meteorologist.

In high school, I applied to about 7 colleges across Texas.  The first college to reply back to me was Texas A&M (okay, the only one, even tho I graduated 11th in my class out of 650). 

I accepted! 

I went through A&M's long list of courses and numerous majors (a HUGE book) and as I was flipping through, trying to decide what I wanted to major in, I saw they had a meteorology degree.  I thought to myself, "I always said I would be one." 

So, that's what I majored in:  Meteorology.

Little did I know.... that Texas A&M is the ONLY undergraduate school in Texas with a meteorology degree!  THE only one. 

And that was the only college that got back to me.

The National Weather Service was looking for summer interns and I sadly accepted an intern position in San Antonio the second summer of college.  I was sad because I had to forgo my "fun" job being a camp counselor at the YMCA. But that would be one of the most important choices in my life. 

I was a summer intern at the National Weather Service in San Antonio for 2 summers. 

BTW, there are not a lot of forecast offices in Texas, but I happened to live in a city that had one!  It was destiny.

When I graduated college in August, that Forecast Office kept a forecaster position open for me for two months until I graduated.  If I hadn't of put my foot in the door as an intern, I wouldn't have got that position.  That set me up for three promotions over the span of 10 years.

You don't meet a meteorologist every day, huh?  Our jobs affect every one's life every day; be it a construction worker, Mom at home with the kids, or driving to work. 

I currently am in middle management and LOVE my job.  I enjoy going to work every day (I'm very lucky to love what I do and have great bosses).   I used to forecast the weather (for about 6 years in Texas and 2 in Florida) and that was easier to describe,  Now, I help forecasters do their jobs with new polices and implement procedures.  (Btw, I've been working with the NWS for 20 years.)

It's always amazed to me how it all came about that I became a meteorologist. It was destined. I firmly believe the path was chosen for me.