Meteorologist

Most meteorologists grow up fascinated by the weather. Not me. Please, don’t stop reading here!

As a kid broadcasting was my goal. I wanted to be on-the-radio. For 11 years that’s just what I did (longer if you count my stint, while attending high school, as one of the last radio actors).

At age thirty I began shaving on a regular basis. I looked old enough to make the transition to TV. I got a job hosting PM Magazine/Buffalo.

If you’ve never spent a winter in Buffalo allow me to tell you it’s exactly what you think! The sun disappears in October and the lake effect snow begins by Thanksgiving.

It’s not that Buffalo has more blizzards, though they do. It’s the persistence of at least a little snow nearly every day for months!

Still with me? Keep reading.

PM Magazine was shot 100% in the field. This was before the easy access of four wheel drive. Working outside in ‘that’ weather year round was getting old quickly.

At this time there was a weekend weather opening at the station. I wasn’t thinking weather as much as working inside two day a week. But something weird happened. The more involved I became the more fascinating weather was.

I went back to school as a grown-up with a child to become a meteorologist. I moved to WTNH in Connecticut where I spent the next 27 years.

Meteorology has been what I do over 35 year now. I have seven Emmy Awards and have appeared as the meteorologist a few dozen times on ABC’s Good Morning America. I also hosted four seasons of “Inside Space” on SciFi (we were SciFa).

Are you still reading? Wow. Thanks. There’s more.

Six years ago my wife and I left New England to move to Southern California. I designed and built my own TV studio in my home. Later, with a friend, I wrote the programs which produce most of the maps you see.

It was about this time Mike Flood, who owns NCN (but more importantly, came up with the NCN idea in the first place) found out about my unusual studio situation and brought me aboard.

As far as we know I am the world’s only TV news anchor who works from home.

You might be wondering how do you cover Nebraska from a thousand miles away? Easily. With today’s access to data and remote sensing and my ability to understand what the numbers on a map feel like there’s no problem. In a state 430 miles long with 93 counties, a window would be fairly useless anyway.

I made a commitment to Mike and you when I took this responsibility. It is for you to judge how well I serve you. It’s a test you should put me to.

Glad you’re still reading. Here’s where the story gets a little scary.

In the summer of 2016 I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It is to cancer as Buffalo is to snow. 91% of those afflicted die within five years, 50% in year one!

If you’re very lucky and it’s caught early and you have a major operation (and a bunch of smaller procedures) and chemo and radiation and more chemo and that operation is fully successful, you get to live. Only 9%. That’s 10:1 odds against. I’m a very, very lucky guy. My tests continue to show no signs of cancer.

Since I live in California you might think making school appearances and speaking to groups is impossible. Not with Skype! In fact Skype allows me to bring my maps, graphics and studio to you. So, please feel free to ask.

Thanks for watching and reading,

Geoff Fox
Twitter: @geofffox