Didn’t Have any Piña Coladas But I did Get Caught in the Rain

As you know, I look forward to Saturdays and Sundays because those are my weathercast days, plus it means my weekend is just around the corner. This Sunday was extra fun because it was “family dinner” day at the Chile Verde plus we had some storms rolling through.

As we were leaving “The Verde” (some would argue the best Mexican grub around, well expect Jordan who loves Taco Bandito) a huge cumulonimbus cloud was building up to the north of I-20. Most people would just look and see a big cloud, not me. I whipped out the phone and took a snapshot of the developing cloud. I pulled a radar image up and saw a severe thunderstorm in Ashley County AR. The top of the cloud could be seen 70 miles south in West Monroe, LA! Man this stuff never gets old!!

Through out the rest of the evening these type storms were popping up along a stationary boundary slowly (I mean a snail’s pace) moving south. The storms were not tornadic just efficient rain, wind, and hail producers. There wasn’t shear for the good stuff to happen. This made for relaxing stormy Sunday.

When the sun went down we were blessed with a gorgeous lightning show thanks to a storm in Union Parish. I haven’t been able to relax, enjoy, and watch a show like that is quite some time. Most times we are cooped up the weather center glued to radar.

Eventually that particular storm drifted south directly over the station just in time of the 10pm show to let out. I totally forgot to grab my raincoat and umbrella that day. I didn’t want to wait for the storm to pass because I knew Bow Echo was in his crate at home with his legs crossed in dire need to go outside. So the countdown to the sprint to my car began: 3,..2,..Then Adam saves the day with his trusty water shoes. He ran out to his car, backed the car up, and ran back inside to give me an extra rain coat. Devin secured me in the coat and I bolted out the door! I love my crew, such gentlemen!

What a Week...So Far

Thursday reminded me about why I love this job! My Green Report was about 400 kids who hung out at Forsythe Park to learn about water conservation. The kids and story was so much fun! I love having kids in my stories. They go crazy when a camera is around and get so excited about being on tv. Plus I got lots hugs from them. The kids were awesome! Not to mention the weather was amazing. Overall Thursday was a good day, but first I had to get through Wednesday…

I’m not sure how I feel about digital recording. At this point I’d be happy with old school betas!! We are in transition from shooting on tapes to shooting on video cards. Which means we’re are still working out all of the kinks. Well, a big kink happened on Wednesday.

Insert “moment of silence” here:

We lost a valuable member of our news team this week. My photographer Fletch really loved his camera and took such good care of it. He was able to quickly and correctly shoot with his trusty P2. He shot two stories Wednesday. He shot a sweeps piece in Ruston earlier that morning, but he also shot my Green Report too.

My story Wednesday was about the oil spill; however my angle on the story was the Louisiana pelican. I went to the zoo to meet with the zoo director. I’ve shot several stories with him, and he is always a great interview as well as very welcoming to our crews. He took us on a boat ride to get footage of their pelicans and gave his best interview yet! I was feeling good about this story on the way back to the station. Then we got back to the station…

Fletch’s camera won’t turn on (and it will never do so again)! The camera is the only P2 we had which means we have to hook his camera to the computer. That’s because the card solo isn’t compatible with any of our computers. This means everything is G-O-N-E. I hate not finishing a story, it is not something you like telling your producer.

This digital switch isn’t all bad, it’s has its good points. It makes logging so much easier! Logging is when you have to sit and write down a time code and word-for-word what was said in your interviews. I hate this part more than anything!

Birmingham and Bust

I recently returned from a visit to Birmingham. This visit really opened my eyes to how much things have changed back home. My friends have made some major headway in their personal lives. I couldn’t be happier for them, and this quick visit has made me miss them even more. Some major changes are happening with my family too. I’m slowly losing my relationship with my mom, but I’m making huge strides with my relationship with my step-mom.

I love my job so much, and even though I was so tired from the 5 hours drive back I couldn’t wait to get back to the station and get to work. I knew I’d be coming home to the potential of severe weather. Not only that mean active weather, but I was also able to get into work at 2 pm instead of 9 am!

Well, Friday was a bust. We didn’t get a single warning so Chief sent me home at 10:30. I knew I would have an early day Saturday because the threat of severe weather was expected yet again, but I didn’t think I’d be getting a phone call at 7:30 AM! I can’t complain, Chief stayed all night long so I was happy to drag myself out of bed, throw a baseball hat over my terrible hair, brush my teeth, and make my way to the station to babysit the weather for a few hours. Thankfully I was able to head home for lunch and to get ready for my normal shows. However, before I left for my break the NWS issued a PDS (particularly dangerous situation) tornado watch for my viewing area. This added an extra risk to the severe weather potential.

After the 6 pm show we had several tornado warnings come out for southern Arkansas (which is in our viewing area). Chief had stepped out for a quick dinner break which meant I was flying solo! At one point we had three different Tornado Warnings. This was intense because I’m still new at doing cut-ins. It is nothing like a doing a regular show for the 5 or 6 pm newscast. During a cut-in the, pressure is on! This really could come down to saving lives, and if the information is incorrect it could mean life or death. Not to mention, trying to get the warnings out while trying not cut-in to Parenthood on NBC or Nascar on Fox(believe me, folks get really mad when you mess with there shows). It was crazy for awhile, but things calmed down quickly with no tornadoes. This is good news, thankfully no one was hurt and no property was lost.

In the end the forecast was a bust!