Weather World Alumni

We've had a lot of friends since we've been on the air.  Here, you can take a look back into our past with some familiar faces.  Most biographies of our weather world alumni have not been updated since their days on the show.  Kudos to where they are now. 

Lee has taught classes at Penn State in meteorology and advanced math. Lee has just co-authored with Jon Nese a college level meteorology text book. Lee coordinates the teaching assistants in the Department of Meteorology. Among Lee's avid interests are softball and animals. Lee will retire from Penn State in August, 2012.

Elliot Abrams

Elliot has received numerous awards in the meteorological field including the prestigious American Meteorological Society's awards for excellence in broadcasting and forecasting. Elliot is also a local government representative and in his spare time enjoys playing golf. He has been elected an AMS Fellow, and was asked to be a candidate for AMS Council in this fall's AMS election. His wife Bonnie is also a Penn State grad and has been teaching second grade for more than 30 years. Their oldest son Mike was editor of The Daily Collegian when he was at Penn State and now works at The New York Times; their youngest son Randy was business manager of The Daily Collegian and is now a vice-president at Credit Suisse.

Joe Bastardi

Joe has a bachelors degree from Penn State University and is currently a senior broadcaster at AccuWeather Inc. Joe has a highly respected expertise in predicting tropical storms. He is a former wrestler and current body builder. He has become well-known for his often surprisingly accurate long-range forecasts along with his potential for over-hyping weather forecasts, a tendency that goes back to his days as a student meteorologist. While limited by the imprecise science of forecasting in some cases, Joe was able to predict snowfall amounts accurately for several recent winter storms well in advance of the event. While Bastardi's videos were previously free to the public, Accuweather recently secured his forecasts behind its "professional site". Still, he frequently appears on cable news channels such as CNN and Fox News during storms. Bastardi produces several weather analysis videos most weekdays. His Big Dog video features his thoughts on long-range trends, while the Point-Counterpoint video features an "argument" between himself and another Accuweather meteorologist, such as Ken Reeves. Bastardi rarely touches upon short-range topics in these videos, even ignoring an impending storm in favor of the next one that may still be several days off. In addition to his videos, Bastardi writes a column that generally summarizes his views in the videos.

Justin Brousse

Justin joined the Weather World team in January of 2002. Additionally, he worked with the Weather Communications Group as a forecaster for The New York Times and taught an introductory meteorology course. Although he experienced his share of exciting weather while growing up in southern Louisiana (including canoeing down his flooded street after Hurricane Florence in 1988), Justin become most interested in the atmosphere after moving to Carlisle, Pennsylvania and experiencing the Blizzards of '93 and '96. Watching Weather World as a high school student led Justin to pursue a meteorology degree at Penn State.

Following his graduation in May of 2003, Justin accepted a weekend meteorologist position at KDLT-TV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was promoted to morning meteorologist a few months later. Justin moved to Nashville's WKRN in September of 2004. He misses the snow and cold of Pennsylvania and South Dakota, but enjoys living in the South and predicting thunderstorms much of the year.

Drew Anderson

Zack Byko

Zack was a member of the Weather World team from January 2006-May 2007. Originally from West Hartford, CT, he has had a passion for the weather since he was four years old. Growing up in New England, Zack is most interested in Nor' Easters, yet he finds hurricanes and severe weather fascinating as well. His interest in weather lead Zack to come to Penn State to study meteorology, where he attained both a B.S. and M.S. While at Penn State, Zack was heavily involved in the Campus Weather Service, the Penn State Branch of the American Meteorological Society and Chi Epsilon Pi.

Zack also taught several introductory meteorology courses. Zack held quite a few internships prior to joining Weather World, including positions at the Talcott Mountain Science Center in Avon, CT, NBC 30 and the WTIC/New England Weather Service in Hartford, CT, and the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK. In his spare time, Zack is an avid runner, enjoys relaxing with friends, and is a huge baseball fan. Zack is currently working as a Meteorologist/Commodity Research Analyst in northwest New Jersey.

Kristin Clark

Kristin joined the Weather World team in the fall of 2006. In addition to her work with Weather World, she produces 90-second weather features for the Weather Channel’s Abrams and Bettes show. She has been actively involved with the Penn State Campus Weather Service television and radio operations. Kristin spent a summer interning in Minneapolis, MN at the CBS affiliate, WCCO-TV.

Kristin has a passion for mountain biking and as a member of the Penn State Cycling Club she has competed in intercollegiate mountain bike races. In addition to biking, she enjoys many outdoor activities including fishing and walking her two Old English Sheepdogs. Kristin is pursuing a career in broadcast meteorology.

Geoff was born into a family of weather enthusiasts in the Philadelphia suburb of Worcester, Pennsylvania. As he grew through the adolescent and teen years, severe weather, heavy snow and record drought brought great excitement, while the trepidation of being overcome by the dreaded rain-snow line grounded him. Geoff's passion for the weather blossomed upon his arrival at Penn State as a freshman in 2000. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in meteorology in 2004, and his New York Times apprenticeship with the Weather Communications Group evolved into full-time employment as a forecaster with the University.

While most of Geoff's role with the Weather Communications Group continues to be as a New York Times forecaster, he was welcomed into the Weather World family in December of 2004. When not in the office or studio, Geoff spends a lot of time at the firehouse. He's a volunteer firefighter with the Alpha Fire Company in State College. In June of 2006, he married his fiancee, Angie. Geoff and Angie moved to near Springfield, MO in August, 2006 where he is now an on-camera meteorologists for KOAM-TV.

Adam DelRosso

Jim Dickey

Scott Dimmich

Jeff Grabon

Jeff earned a B.S. degree in meteorology from Penn State in 2007. He graduated with distinction and minored in mathematics. During his undergraduate years, Jeff was a member of the Campus Weather Service, the Penn State Branch of the American Meteorological Society, and a calculus tutor. He interned in the weather station at NBC 30 in Hartford, Connecticut during the summer of 2005. Previously, he served as an on-air meteorologist for The Palestra.com and CNET. Jeff received his M.S. in meteorology focusing on boundary layer studies in May, 2009. He is currently hiking the Appalachian Trail before beginning his professional career.

Outside of academics, Jeff keeps himself busy with a variety of activities. A New England native from Vernon, Connecticut, he is a huge Red Sox fan and loves to attend ballgames. Jeff enjoys going the gym along with playing tennis and basketball. Since he is an Eagle Scout, he spends time camping, hiking, and biking. His rainy day hobbies include playing the guitar or piano, playing cards, and reading a good book.

Doug Harlow

Doug is a first year graduate student at Penn State. He joined the Weather World team in the Spring of 2001. He has interned at three news stations, including WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. and is currently working behind the scenes creating graphics for the Weather World show.
Doug became interested in the weather after hearing fascinating stories about Hurricane Hazel from his grandmother. After spending a weekend on the beach during the passage of Hurricane Bob, he knew he wanted to study meteorology. Since then, he has endured sleepless nights and countless hours of driving to experience Hurricanes Bertha, Bonnie, and Floyd in Wilmington, NC. Doug also has an interest in snowstorms, and attending undergraduate school in upstate NY did not leave him disappointed. Doug Harlow is joining a new station as its morning weatherman. He will replace Brian Shields, who departed in July, 2006 for a job at Orlando, Fla., ABC affiliate, WFTV-TV. Harlow comes to Charleston from WIVT-TV NewsChannel 34, an ABC affiliate in Binghamton, NY. He started on October 21, 2006. His outside interests include Italian automobiles and basketball.

Joby Hilliker

Drew Jackson

Drew first appeared on Weather World in the spring of 1999. When He graduated in August 2000, he took a position as the on-camera meteorologist with KNDU in Richland, Washington. He was born in Portland, Oregon, and lived there until he came to Penn State as an undergraduate Meteorology student in 1994.

Although Drew is certainly fascinated by the weather (especially big snow storms), his interest in Mother Nature was not the only reason he left the west coast to come to Penn State. Being a springboard and platform diver since he was seven years old, Drew was recruited to come and dive for the Nittany Lions. While competing, he distinguished himself as the only Penn State diver in the school's history to qualify for the NCAA Championships all four years of his collegiate career. Now a retired athlete, Drew remained involved in the sport by coaching the State College Area High School team and assisting the Penn State team. Aside from diving, Drew's other interests include skiing, windsurfing, mountain climbing, and traveling.

Rob Lydick

Christine McEnrue

Neil McGillis

Neil graduated from Penn State with a B.S. in Meteorology in 1997, and an M.S. in Meteorology in 1999 under the guidance of Dr. Greg Forbes. He subsequently moved to Atlanta, GA where he currently resides and works for The Weather Channel. He began working as a software developer but ultimately worked his way into a management position. He is currently part of a team of meteorologists and software developers responsible for managing, creating, and distributing weather content to all of TWC’s platforms, and his focus is in the area of weather graphics and graphics systems. Neil and his family enjoy good food, spending time with family and friends, and traveling together, especially anywhere with a beach. They love to go for long walks or other exercise, and are sure not to miss any PSU football games on TV.

Gannon Medwick

Gannon Medwick was born in Wilmington, DE and grew up in nearby Kennett Square, PA. He joined the Weather World production team in November 2001 and was a part of the on-air team from February to November 2003. In December 2003 Gannon graduated from Penn State with a degree in meteorology, a degree-emphasis in weather forecasting and communications, and a minor in business-leadership strategy.

His experience with Weather World has propelled Gannon to a television meteorologist position in Lake Charles, LA. A seafood and tropical weather enthusiast, Gannon certainly felt at home in Acadiana. But, Gannon admits, as a Philadelphia-area native, he'll eventually want to return to a region that features all the forecasting fun of the four seasons (especially snow!).

In October 2004 Gannon joined Storm Team 9 in Greenville, NC as the morning and noon meteorologist. He lives in Pitt County with his wife Jennifer. The tricky weather systems that move through eastern North Carolina and the East Coast are what caught Gannon’s interest in meteorology early on. In spare time, Gannon enjoys experimenting with web design, jogging, playing racquetball and tennis, cooking, and-what else?-"recreational" weather-watching!

Andrea Michalenicz

Dave Miller

Todd Miner

When he was a member of the Penn State Weather Communications Group, Todd taught classes in both weather communications and forecasting and also teaches introductory meteorology classes for non-majors on occasion. He helped supervise the daily creation of the New York Times Weather Page, which was done every day at Penn State until January, 2010. Subsequently, Todd has been working in the State College area.

Some of Todd's other interests include swimming, biking and generally wandering around in the great outdoors. Ademas, el ha descubierto satisfaccion para aprender idiomas extranas, especialmente espanol! Hasta luego!

Tyler McCandless
(student)

Brian Monahan

Brian Monahan joined Weather World during the fall of 2004 as the program
returned to the airwaves on PCN. Brian graduated from Penn State in Spring 2004
with a B.S. in Meteorology and completed his M.S. in May, 2006.

In addition to Brian's work on Weather World, he also served as the weekend morning meteorologist on WBRE-TV in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Brian is currently the morning and midday meteorologist on WINK-TV, Fort Myers, FL. When he's not watching the weather, Brian enjoys both watching and participating in sports of all kinds.

Sam Perugini

Sam was a forecaster for the New York Times and has a passion for chasing hurricanes. Sam's other interests include politics and his dog Snuffy. Sam is now working at AccuWeather Inc. as a broadcast meteorologist.

Harlan Shannon

Dave Skutnik

Dave came to Weather World from Washington Township, New Jersey, located just outside of Philadelphia. Before coming to Penn State, Dave was extremely active in youth sports. In addition to playing high school ice hockey, he coached several sports, including baseball, ice hockey, and soccer. He was also involved in officiating all of those sports. Here in central Pennsylvania, Dave continued to be very involved in ice hockey, and could be found at several area rinks as a high school and college ice hockey referee.

Dave enjoys attending Penn State sporting events and catching the Flyers and Eagles on TV.

Dave first fell in love with the weather in the early 1980s, when a storm dropped 26" of snow in his backyard. Since then, winter has always been his favorite season, topped off by the Blizzard of 1996, which dropped 31" of snow in Philadelphia, leaving Dave grinning ear-to-ear. He also enjoys spending summer days at the beach, and spring days on the baseball fields.

Dave graduated in May 2001. He spent 2 years as Chief Meteorologist at WHIZ in Zanesville, Ohio. Dave then moved to the NBC affiliate, WHAG in Hagerstown, MD for 2 more years where he covered some things from the Presidents’ Day Blizzard to 18 tornadoes produced in the viewing area in a 4 hour span during Hurricane Ivan. He has been at WBRE since June 2005 where most recently he led our stations coverage during the devastating June 2006 flash flooding (8-14” of rain in 5 days).

Joe Sobel

Joe is the Senior Vice President of AccuWeather Inc. and is heard regularly on radio throughout New York and in large market cities in the Deep South. His specialty is in the field of broadcasting and forensics. Joe's outside interests include baseball and tennis.

Heidi Sonen

Jonathan Porter joined the on air Weather World Team in February of 2002, however he had been involved in many aspects of the show since September 2000. In addition, Jon worked as a forecaster with the New York Times Group and was heavily involved in the department's TV weather graphics system. Jon received a bachelors degree in meteorology as well as a minor in information technology in May, 2004. A New England native, Jon grew up in the small town of Killingly, CT where he developed a passion for snow and snow forecasting. Jon has always been interested in the weather and in fact his father has an undergraduate degree in meteorology. During his middle and high school years, Jon provided weather forecasts during winter storms to his local newspaper. Since 2004, Jon has been working at AccuWeather Inc. using his computer savvy to enhance forecasts.

In his free time, Jon likes to spend time with his friends and he can frequently be found riding his bicycle on the roads of State College. Jon also volunteers at a clinic that provides healthcare to those without health insurance.

Jay Searles

Jay was raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, land of 11,842 lakes. Outdoors is the place to be in MN, all year round. And winters there make it tough! Ice fishing is awesome too! So that is what Jay did growing up, fishing, cycling and otherwise always outdoors.

When a person spends so much time in the wilderness there is no way you can get by in Minnesota without knowing what the weather is doing. Jay became hooked on trying to figure out how and why the weather was doing what it did. So becoming a meteorologist was only the natural course to take.

He graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1990 with a BS in meteorology, and two years later from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology with an MS.

After several years with the government, Jay then plunged into TV, First in Rapid City South Dakota, then Champaign Illinois. TV was something Jay always wanted to do, but still there were other things that he enjoyed.

When the station in Champaign did not re-sign his contract, Jay took the opportunity to explore personal training and triathlon coaching. Physical fitness and triathlon racing are Jays other passions in life and had a home business and a position with Refinery, a fitness facility in Champaign.

Jay loves to teach, meteorology is his true passion and teaching physical fitness and health as well as meteorology is like a dream come true. A position came open at Penn State where he could forecast the weather for very challenging locations, teach meteorology to students at the premier school in the nation and also pursue his other interests in physical fitness.

Joe Thompson

Steve Travis

Nick Vita

Jen Ziegenfus

Matt Alto

Brian Walder

Liz Cosgrove