Congratulations to our newest NWA Seal Holder: Blake Mathews from Spectrum!
What sparked your interest in meteorology?
I don't know. I've just always loved the weather. In my new book that I published back in September, I mention that being a weatherman was my destiny. It had to be because nothing of significance ever really occurred along the northwest gulf coast in my formative years (1989 to 2000) that got my attention. I didn't experience a major tornado or hurricane or anything like that. The idea of a house being torn down to its foundation in three seconds was fascinating to me. I can't remember a time when I didn't love the weather. If something bad was going to happen that was out of my control, I wanted to be there for it.
What is the most memorable weather event you have covered on air?
Easy: Hurricane Harvey. I was working at KHOU-TV in Houston, my hometown, when Harvey invaded our area. Not many people can say they swam out of their TV station, but we did! It was tragic in so many ways. I grew up in a hurry that week. I wrote a book on the experience called "Harvey Hell: Off the Air and on the Ropes." You can order it online through Barnes and Noble or Amazon. It was extreme and bizarre in every way. If I were to tell you that we were forecasting 3-6 inches of rain and isolated tornadoes, normally that would get your attention as a "weather alert day." I was responsible for telling the 4th largest city in the nation that we were expecting 10x that amount of rain. We ended up with 40-60 inches of rain in southeast Texas, with 156 tornado warnings issued in four days -- more tornado warnings than the Houston/Galveston NWS had issued in the previous five years combined! A very close runner-up was the Winter Storm of 2021. Both disasters cost Texas more than $125 billion in damages.
What do you love to do in your free time?
I work to travel. I'm fortunate to have been to every single inhabitable continent. I've been to Sydney, Dubai, Auckland, Frankfurt, Paris, Rome, Cairo, Rio De Janeiro to name a few. In another life I'm sure I was a pilot. Surprisingly enough, I'm also a really good bowler with multiple perfect 300 games to my credit, recognized by the Professional Bowlers Association. I've got the rings to prove it!
What do you love most about being a member of the NWA?
Being part of an organization that believes in the science of weather. In the age of social media and misinformation, it's important to have a steady voice of reason and the NWA believes in this as well. The conferences are interesting and full of new, exciting information about our inexact science, and its members, more importantly, love the weather as much as I do.
