Cloudy with a Chance of Creativity
Join Kassi Kincaid in a dynamic conversation with Hunter Williams, Chief Meteorologist at KVUE in Austin, Texas! Journey through the milestone of Hunter’s career where he developed the talent to forecast both weather and creative ideas.
Transcript:
Kassi Kincaid (00:00):
Welcome to The Edge of Creativity Podcast. I'm your host, Kassi Kincaid, and joined with me today is Hunter Williams, Chief Meteorologist at KVUE. Hunter, thank you so much for being here today.
Hunter Williams (00:12):
Of course. I'm excited to talk a little bit about weather with you guys today. We'll talk about how to get into a career in meteorology, all sorts of stuff. I'm excited.
Kassi Kincaid (00:20):
So let's kick it off. Can you share with our listeners where your meteorology journey began and how it's progressed to where you are today?
Hunter Williams (00:29):
When I was a young kid, I was always very interested in the weather before I even realized this is a career that you could get into. So I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and I think we all know there's not a lot of snow days in Alabama, but I would always get really excited when we had any chance for snow, and I would watch the Weather Channel all the time growing up, and eventually I got to a point where I'd watch the local on the eights all the time. The thing goes today, partly cloudy high 77, and I'd watch that, especially if we had a chance for snow or a chance for storms. And basically I would memorize that and tell to people like I knew how to forecast the weather. And that kind of got me originally interested in weather and forecasting the weather.
(01:07):
And then when I got a little bit older and I was going through high school, I was a sophomore in high school in 2011, on April 27th, 2011, there was a massive once in a generation type tornado outbreak across the deep south and across Alabama. And that day there was a EF four tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. And I remember watching the severe weather coverage of that tornado. And there's a really famous meteorologist in Birmingham, his name is James Span, and I always really liked him growing up as a lot of folks in Alabama do. And I was watching his severe weather coverage that day, and he had live video of this tornado unlike anything I'd ever seen. And he said, this will be a day that will go down in state history, and all you can do is pray for those people. And that sentence always stuck with me. And that was kind of the first moment where it all clicked, like, oh, this is what I have to do. And from there I decided wanted to pursue a career in meteorology. I went to Penn State University, got a meteorology degree from there, and then started my professional career.
Kassi Kincaid (02:08):
So how did you end up in Austin?
Hunter Williams (02:11):
Yeah, well, I guess we got to backtrack. Even when I was in college at Penn State, when I'd come back home to Alabama for the summers going into my junior and senior year, I started doing weekends and fill-ins for a small TV station in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, WVUA. And that was the first time that I'd really been on live TV. And I was terrible the first, this is a crazy story though. One of the first times, I don't know if it was the very first time, but within the first five times of me doing live TV during a newscast, the fire alarm goes off in the studio. I'm like, what do we do? Do we keep doing the weather? What do we do? So we evacuated the studio in the middle of the newscast. I guess they went to commercial break or something, and then we came back up and they're like, all right, we're going to go right to weather.
(02:57):
And I just remember being so panicked, frazzled at the time. I was just like, what do you mean go right to weather? It was just, so that was the first experience I had with live TV, but that was very valuable. I put together a reel of my clips working at WVUA and posted that on YouTube and got a call from a station in Macon, Georgia, WMAZ, the CBS affiliate there. And that was my first full-time job as a meteorologist on TV. So I worked in Macon for two and a half years, started doing a weekend evenings there, and then the morning meteorologist left. I got bumped up to the morning position there for about a year and a half, and then that contract was coming up. So I started to look for jobs again, and I once again posted my reel on YouTube. And what's funny is I posted it from work and then so I leave the station in Macon, I get my car and I drive 12 minutes up to my apartment. And in that 12 minutes, I got a Twitter message from Albert Ramon, who was the chief meteorologist here at KVUE at the time, and he said, Hey, I saw your reel on YouTube, which I just posted minutes ago. He said, are you interested in coming to Austin? I said, absolutely I am. And that ends up being how I came here.
Kassi Kincaid (04:08):
That is crazy! So reels for all the keynote speakers out there and people that do speaking as a career. So meteorologists, they put together reels like a speaker reel, right?
Hunter Williams (04:20):
Like a sizzle reel, resume reel. So yeah, you guys probably do the same type of thing. The beginning of it, I haven't done this in a while. Hopefully this hasn't changed too much, but the first minute of this reel will be basically like a montage, a bunch of clips, like five to 10 seconds, severe weather, calm weather, personality. You do a little one minute montage reel, and then normally you'll put one or two full weathers like an active day, full weather, severe weather, calm day, and then maybe you'll toss like a package or something on there. So you put together this reel, and every time that I've been looking for jobs, I put that on YouTube and I put my email on there and see who responds to me.
Kassi Kincaid (04:59):
That is really interesting. I thought speakers were the only ones that did the real.
Hunter Williams (05:02):
So you do that same thing?
Kassi Kincaid (05:03):
Yes, yes. That's really interesting. I had no idea. So Hunter, being a meteorologist and predicting the weather seems to be a very scientific career. How does creativity come to play in your work?
Hunter Williams (05:19):
Well, I think that creativity is the link that connects meteorology and what I do being a TV meteorologist. So every time I talk to somebody who's up and coming in this field or is just starting, I tell them, if you are broadcasting, if you are telling people about the weather, you can write the exact perfect numbers, high, low, chance of rain, when you can write the exact perfect forecast down on a sheet of paper. If you can't find a way to creatively tell that to somebody in a clear, concise manner, well guess what? Your forecast isn't worth anything. So it's about, okay, what is the way that I can most creatively or most efficiently story? Every forecast is basically a story. And so what I'm setting out to do when I do two minutes and 45 seconds or three minutes and 15 seconds or however long it is when I do my weather forecast on TV every night, I'm thinking, okay, here's the weather story. This is the thesis, the climax of the story, here's the ending, here's the conclusion. How do I put all of this together in the most creative way so that it's easy for everybody to understand?
Kassi Kincaid (06:21):
And as far as forecasting the weather, how do you even forecast? I know numbers are numbers when it's like the temperature outside, but how does that all come about when you're talking storms, when you're talking other things besides the temperature?
Hunter Williams (06:37):
This is a question I get a lot. People are like, well, what do you do? You just look at the iPhone. How do you make a weather forecast? So when we weather forecast, you can really break it down into kind of three sections. So the first thing is we look at what's happening right now. We look at the current temperature, we look at the dew point or the humidity, we look at the current radars, it raining right now, we look at the satellite, where are the clouds? We look at the current wind, we look at what is currently happening and the basics of predicting the future. It's harder to predict the future if you don't know what's happening right now. So the most important first step is to look at what's happening right now. Now step number two, once we have a good grasp of what's currently happening, then we start to look at computer models, which simulate the weather.
(07:16):
And there's a lot of different computer models nowadays. You can access these online and they simulate the weather. Some go out 18 hours, some go out seven days, some go out longer than that. So we have a bunch of different computer models that we look at. We look at those models. We put together a forecast for the next seven days, which is what we show on TV. And then on top of that, say we have a big cold front or a snowstorm or a severe weather threat or something notable like that, to add another layer of certainty into that forecast, what we can do is look back to what we call analog. So we can look back to historical events that remind us of that. So if we're forecasting a big, say ice storm, okay, well, maybe I'd look back to some of the ice storms we've had in the past. If it's a big cold front, how did the models handle the last cold front? So those are the three elements. We look at what's currently happening. We look at forecast models which simulate the forecast. Then we look back to analogs, and then I'll throw in my historical perspective and my experience forecasting the weather here in central Texas. And based on all that, we put together a forecast we showed on TV.
Kassi Kincaid (08:17):
How do you use creativity when storms come in, ice storms, tornadoes, things that are not in the typical day-to-day weather. How does that change up the creativity as far as you staying longer here at the station, watching the radars, things like that?
Hunter Williams (08:34):
Yeah, so that is definitely a big aspect to doing severe weather, both the hours and the creativity and trying to story tell a little bit differently. So I guess first with the creativity, I think back to the big freezing rainstorm that we had a couple of winters ago where we ended up close to two thirds of an inch of freezing rain in Austin, which is incredible. But then I'm thinking about that and I'm thinking about all the times that I'm saying, okay, we'll have a half inch to three quarters of an inch of freezing rain. Then I had a moment where I'm like, well, what in the world does that mean to anybody? What does a half inch of ice mean? What does that mean? And that was a moment where I had to say, wait, okay, maybe I'm too into the forecast here. Let's think more creatively.
(09:16):
What does that mean? Okay, this means that roads will be difficult or impassable to travel on. This means that we will likely have power outages, perhaps widespread power outages that last for days. I'm thinking about, okay, here's the forecast. Let's get more creative. What is the impact of that? And then beyond that, well, how can I be more creative in telling this to people? And that's where weather graphics come in. And that's something that a lot of these we design ourselves. And I'm always trying to think like, okay, I like to just really get right into the forecast. What's the first graphic I can show where people within 15 to 30 seconds of my forecast basically know what's going to happen and then for the rest of the forecast I can expand on it? So those are a few of the ways that creativity comes into things.
(10:00):
And then just going back to what you said with the long hours for every, I find that it all balances out. We're going to have a lot of days here where it's sunny at 82 and it's like, all right guys, have an early afternoon, enjoy your day. But we are also going to have some days where we have multiple rounds of severe storms or we have snow or we have flooding or any sort of things where we could be here for many shifts at a time. We could be here for days at a time. I've definitely, I think I've slept here for three nights in a row. I've definitely really definitely spent a lot of time at the TV station. And that's where as the chief meteorologist, you feel a little bit more of that responsibility where you are not just the guiding force for the weather team, but you are the representative for the entire station to understand what's happening where you just have to be here for as long as it takes.
Kassi Kincaid (10:54):
So how many people under you as a chief meteorologist, can you describe a little bit more of your role and maybe creativity in the leadership aspect of that?
Hunter Williams (11:02):
Yeah, so I am one of four meteorologists that work for the TV station, and most TV stations of this size will have between three and five meteorologists on the team. We have four here at KVUE. So I do as the chief, I do five, six, and 10 Monday through Friday. In the evenings we'll have a morning meteorologist, Shane Hinton, who has also been here for almost the entire time that I've been here, he does the morning show. So he is got the early alarm, he wakes up at 1:30 AM and then comes in and does TV from 4:30 AM to 9:00 AM. So we have a morning meteorologist during the week, and then we have two weekend meteorologist. One does the morning and then one does the afternoon. And then during the week they have midday responsibilities. Then also we produce digital output. So that's where creativity comes in.
(11:49):
Again, you think like, okay, a TV station, they just do stuff on tv. Well, KVUE is a TV station first and foremost, but KVUE is also a website. It's an app, it's a YouTube page. There's so many different outlets in this modern internet age where you really do have to think more creatively about how do I reach people on TV, which is the bread and butter of what we do, but also how do I reach people on all of these other platforms? I'm getting off topic here, but YouTube is a big part of what we do as well. And KVUE Plus. So we have a streaming app on Roku and Fire TV and Apple TV. So it's not just you sit down and everybody's eating dinner and you watch the five and six o'clock news together. It's not that anymore. We're thinking creatively about how can we reach people where they are. It's not always working so hard to bring them to us. I mean, we want to do that, but it's okay if they're here. Let's not fight that. Let's find a way to reach them where they are.
Kassi Kincaid (12:40):
Sure. And that's such a great point because so many people I feel like are glued their iPhones right, or LGS or whatever they have and aren't necessarily that family that just sits down and watches the news on their TV. You're so right that there's so many different outlets, and that's really cool that you try and connect on all those different outlets with them.
Hunter Williams (12:59):
I would love for it to be 1978 and the golden age of TV and every single household is glued to local news, but that's just not the reality of the world that we live in right now. And again, you can fight that or you could say, alright, let's reach the people on TV and let's reach people everywhere else they are. So KVUE is definitely all in on digital and all of these other streaming platforms. And then as a meteorologist, I really like that because it gives us an opportunity to be creative and storytelling in kind of a different environment. So if there's a tornado warning, look, we're going to go on TV and we're going to talk about it no matter what, but there's a lot of room between a tornado warning and something that still is impactful, but it's not life-threatening. But people still want to know about it.
(13:43):
And that's why I'm glad that we have all these other outlets now where, alright, we don't have a destructive tornado moving through good, but there is a really noisy thunderstorm over round rock and there's lots of lightning and people are trying to go to bed and they're wondering what's happening here? Well, cool, I can go on KVUE plus I can go on YouTube, I can go on any of these other outlets and I can do my job in explaining the forecast in a way that maybe I wanted to say 30, but in a way that even 10, 15 years ago, or especially 20 years ago, we probably wouldn't have been able to do. So in the same way that the landscape is changing, there's still a lot of opportunity in this changing landscape.
Kassi Kincaid (14:20):
That's so awesome. So kind of wrapping up today, Hunter, how has the use of creativity in the ways that you described made an impact?
Hunter Williams (14:29):
Well, I hope that it's made an impact and make it easier for people to understand the forecast. This is actually something that I'm working on right now. We're kind of revamping our graphics system, what our graphics look like, and then also some of the color palettes that we use for the radar. So I think that's maybe an aspect of this that people don't think about all the time where I'm thinking, okay, how do I make the graphics desirable to look at, but also clean and easy for people to understand? And there's kind of a creative graphic design element to that. And then with the radar, when I talk about a color palette you guys have, everyone turns on the news and you see, okay, there's a map, it's got greens and yellows and reds. Alright, there's a storm over there. Well, there's ways to make that look a little bit different and a little bit more appealing.
(15:12):
So those are some of the things that we've been going through recently here at KVUE. And then this gets a little bit more into the marketing side of things, but if you go out, we're in our weather office right now, if you open up this door and walk down the hallway and take a left, there's a whole marketing department right there. And they're constantly thinking creatively about, okay, how do we show people in central Texas that our weather team is trustworthy and how do we showcase all the good work that they do? They're thinking creatively about how to do that. So there's a lot of different stories that are involved. We shot a bunch of promos a while ago, this was months ago, but some of those same stories that I told to you about how I got originally interested in meteorology, I think that's kind of a unique thing for viewers to be led in on too.
(16:00):
So we've shot some stuff to let people know, not just mine, but news anchors, other meteorologists here. Okay, what's kind of the backstory here? Why did you decide to get into this? And I think it's interesting for people to know that and it provides more context into why this is what we've decided to do. But just going back to the path so far to get into this career, there's just so many stories along the way that have been amazing and so many great meteorologists that I've been able to work with. When I worked in Macon, Georgia, the chief meteorologist there who hired me, his name is Ben Jones, and he is like the meteorologist in Macon, Georgia. And I remember when I interviewed there, I was at the TV station. They showed me around like, all right, let's go grab a dinner. We went and got a burger and we're walking down the main street, Cherry Street in Macon, and there's like, I'm walking down the street with Ben Jones.
(16:57):
Cars are stopping the road, people are honking, people are yelling out of car windows. People are coming up asking for autographs. And I realized how much he meant to this community. And there's been a lot of experiences like that where I think back to how I felt watching James span on April 27th, 2011, and realized how much of an impact these type of people have had on so many people's lives. There was another story. So when I worked at WVUA in Tuscaloosa, so that station was very close to the Tuscaloosa tornado, and Richard Scott is the chief meteorologist there, and he told me about that day where he was doing the severe weather coverage and the tornado was less than two miles away from the TV station. He said there was a moment where they had evacuated everyone out of the studio except him and one other meteorologist.
(17:50):
Everyone was huddled in the hallway and he was doing the coverage. And all of a sudden the power went out and he just heard the beep of the battery backup in the studio. And he told me, he's like, Hunter, there was a second there where it was completely quiet. I just heard this beep and I was just waiting for the studio to be hit by a tornado. And that day, this is kind of a hard pivot, but it really is one of the stories that always sits with me. He left the studio that day because power was out. They weren't able to get back on air, and he drove into his neighborhood and it turned out that his neighborhood and his home had been hit by this very strong tornado. But as he was walking through this neighborhood, his neighborhood, there were people who stopped him.
(18:32):
And one of the people that stopped him said, I thought your voice was going to be the last thing I heard before I died. And there's moments like that where I've heard these amazing meteorologists tell me about just these inflection points where their career meets humanity, meets all the goals that they have always had. And that's one of the things that inspires me to do this every day. I think that a lot of meteorologists who have done this for a while, and I'm not putting myself into this bucket just yet, but there's a lot of meteorologists who will tell you, you'll work a 30, 40 year career and it will come down to two or three days where things are really important. So when you talk about creativity and storytelling, it's about mastering those things so that on those two or three days, you're ready for it.
Kassi Kincaid (19:20):
Wow, that is incredible. And thank you so much for all you do here and forecasting the weather for our area here in Austin. I mean, what you do is so important in not only just forecasting what the weather is and things like that, but it really does come down to what we do as viewers and our everyday lives.
Hunter Williams (19:40):
I'm happy to be on the podcast and do some videos with you guys.
Kassi Kincaid (19:43):
Well, thank you so much for your time today, Hunter. It has been such a joy. And thanks so much for listening to today's episode on the Edge of Creativity Podcast. And be sure to follow so you don't miss any of our upcoming episodes. We'll see you soon.
