I have created this page to share my passion for weather, and also provide a community service to those that live near McCall, Idaho. My love of weather started while growing up in St. When storms came, I would run to the couch and peer out the window to watch the swirling clouds and bolts of lightning. Even though sometimes I was scared, I was also fascinated with the power of weather, and how/why it happened. As I grew older, my father (who was a science teacher) would tell me the names of the clouds, and what they meant. Soon, I was studying on my own and would begin recording weather in my early teens. I also did my own weather summaries in my little weather office with a weather radio and the weather channel always on!
�In high school and college, I continued my formal education (with an emphasis on Geography and Meteorology/Climate). For a while, I lived in Florida and got to experience a few tropical storms, and I also started “chasing” storms when severe weather threatened. �
After college, I moved to the high country of Colorado for a winter and got to experience my first mountain weather climate. Soon thereafter, my family and I moved to California, and I got a job with the U. Forest Service and lived and worked in the mountains of Southern California. (Don’t laugh, some of the biggest snow storms I’ve ever experienced were there)! While my job was a ranger in the visitor center much of the time, I was still able to get out and weather watch while doing other assignments. I soon started producing my own specialized for the forest, at the visitor center I operated. I also took daily weather readings, and communicated regularly with the National Weather Service on local conditions where information/observations were scarce. During my 13 yr career with the USFS (in California and Washington State) I participated in local fires, often being staffed as a lookout, in addition to acting in an advisory position for weather/fire behavior information. I also worked closely with local ski areas on snow reports and other information.�
In 2013, I “retired” from the USFS, and my wife and I started a multi-year journey of living in some amazing places! First, we moved from Leavenworth, Washington to Alta, Wyoming. It is there that I began doing my own weather forecasts on the page Teton Valley Weather, and was a local weather blogger for Teton Valley News. It was quite exciting living only a few miles from Grand Targhee resort, and seeing 500” of snow fall in the winter! ��My good friend Bruce took over that page in 2015 when my wife and I moved to Montana to “try it on”, and I began forecasting for the Flathead Valley. However, while we loved living in Whitefish (and near Glacier National Park), two years of endless gray winters were enough for us (we didn’t mind the snow and cold, however) so we moved to Pagosa Springs, CO. I forecasted for 3 years at Pagosa Weather. It was a challenging place to forecast, with the San Juan Mountains to our north/east and the San Juan Basin/Desert to our South/West. In fall of 2019, we decided we missed the Northern Rockies (and worried about the persistent drought conditions in the 4 corners area), so we moved to the McCall/New Meadows area, where we believe we have found our home for a long time! I took the past year observing the weather, but now I am ready to dive in. That being said, I know I have my work cut out for me as it was also quite challenging figuring out the local weather patterns last winter! My experience and e�ducation:
Southern Illinois University- Geography/Climate/Meteorology
Northern Arizona University - Forestry Management, Atmospheric Science
Mountain Weather Forecasting/Climate with the American Meteorological Society
Mountain Weather Forecasting - Colorado Avalanche Center. Memberships/Volunteer
Skywarn Spotter for the National Weather Service since 1985
Member American Meteorological Society
Member: American Weather Association
Cocorahs Weather Observer since 2013
Weather/Fire Lookout
Fire weather lookout/forecaster with the U.S. Forest Service
Forecaster/Blogger for Teton Valley Weather
Forecaster for Flathead Valley Weather
Forecaster for Pagosa Weather
Strong relationship with many local National Weather Service offices across the intermountain west
Some other things to know about me!�
I love to snowboard, so you will see many updates and possible video reports and photos from Brundage, Tamarack and Little Ski Hill. (and other areas around our communities). I am NOT an early morning person, so you won’t be getting weather forecasts/updates generally until mid to late morning. While I do get up earlier than that, It it usually takes me up to an hour (or more) to w**d through forecast models and other data, upload images and write up a narrative . (That’s not to say that if we have significant weather conditions, I won’t make exceptions). I will do plenty of evening updates, so you will know what to expect when you wake up in the morning. During active weather, I will attempt to provide updates as often as possible. During inactive weather, you will get less updates.�
I am doing this on my own time, and am not being compensated for it. While I do have a sense of responsibility to provide weather to the community, I will periodically take some vacations and time off, however I still try my best to provide information during those times if severe weather threatens.��I have a good relationship with the National Weather Service Boise office. This page should NOT be considered a replacement for them. They are the authority for all official forecasts, watches, warnings, etc. They do an awesome job covering a very large, dynamic forecast area. My page is to be considered an additional source for more detailed, local weather in the McCall area. While I will provide forecasts for the area, the main focus will be on the details behind the forecast.
�I love personal feedback and participation. Please contribute your reports/photos, discussion to the page! Thanks for following my page, and let's talk about the weather!
