Tammie Souza is the Weekend Meteorologist for Fox Chicago. In her words:
There’s no place like sweet home Chicago where I have forecast the weather for nearly a dozen years at both Fox Chicago News and NBC 5. I have also worked at CBS in Tampa, Florida, where I was named the first female chief meteorologist in Tampa. Earlier in my career I was at the CBS station in Milwaukee, where I was promoted to chief meteorologist and was chosen “Best On-Air Personality.” My start came in Chico, Calif., at the CBS station as the morning and noon meteorologist.
As a certified broadcast meteorologist I am one of only a handful of women in the nation that holds both the prestigious AMS/CBM Certified Broadcast Meteorology Seal of Approval from the American Meteorological Society and the NWA Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association. I am also honored to be the first female chosen as the National Chairman American Meteorological Society Board of Meteorology where I oversee the membership and evaluations for all new SEAL applicants and current SEAL holders in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. I have served on the National Board for the NWA as well.
My college background includes a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Environmental Science from San Diego State University, undergraduate studies through Mississippi State University, graduate studies at U.C.S.D. and a Broadcast Meteorology Certification from Mississippi State University. I am working toward my Masters Degree.
I have been honored with five Emmy Awards, including: Best Weathercast and Best Weather and Science Report. I also received a first place award from the Associated Press for a report on Shipwreck Diving in Lake Michigan. For that I dove 33 feet beneath the surface of Lake Michigan on a 125-year-old on Shipwreck. The National Association of Black Journalists has also recognized me with a national nomination for a story about Fugitive Slave Ships on Lake Michigan.
A fascination with weather and science has led to a string of special reports, including: Storm Chasing, Climate Change, Storm Phobia, Nuclear Power, World War II Planes, Stadium Safety, Hurricane Evacuation Zones and even Haunted Houses. Some of the more notable weather stories I’ve covered include the blizzard of 1999, the deadly 2004 Utica tornado, the anniversary of the 1967 Chicago tornado outbreak and the devastating 2003 and 2007 Wildfires in San Diego where my family lost several homes. I also completed a 10-part series of reports about Lake Michigan and covered the grand opening of a Natural Disaster Lab that tests building materials and destroys homes in the name of science.
Teaching youth that weather and science can be both interesting and fun is important to me. I’ve enjoyed sharing my interactive weather presentation at more than 600 Chicago area schools. I’ve also written special weather factoid columns for several newspapers throughout my career.
So, where did this interest in weather originate? As a child my grandfather would take me flying in his small plane over the farmlands of northern California. The excitement of soaring through the sky led to questions about why clouds form, what causes storms and where wind comes from. Ultimately that curiosity has been transformed in to a career as a meteorologist and a love of flying.
That passion seems to run in my family. My sister Patty was also a broadcast meteorologist. My brother Matt is a pilot for Fed-Ex. My dad even worked as a design engineer on the Saturn Boosters for the Apollo Space Program. Here’s a fun fact, years ago I was a contestant on The Price Is Right. I won camping gear and a car. Talk about crazy luck.
Finally, there is my husband Greg and young son Caleb, who make me laugh with their inventive weather terms, some of which I will share with you on air. Spare time and hobbies are mainly spent outdoors. My hobbies include snow skiing, water skiing, scuba diving, gardening, gourmet cooking, flying, hiking, boating, fishing and never ending remodeling projects. Environmental issues are also very near and dear to my heart.
Jim Allsopp is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) with the National Weather Service (NWS) Chicago office, located in Romeoville. As WCM, Jim is the liaison between NWS and other federal, state and local government agencies and organizations dealing with hazardous weather preparedness. He also works closely with the local media to help provide a unified and efficient delivery of hazardous weather information to the community. He works to make communities, schools, and businesses better informed and better prepared for hazardous weather. This is in support of the primary mission of the National Weather Service – to save lives and protect property and to promote the nation’s economy through weather warnings and forecasts.
On a personal note, Jim grew up in the Chicago area and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology from Florida State University in 1978. Jim has been with the NWS for 33 years. He began his career in St. Louis and Los Angeles and spent 10 years as a forecaster at Indianapolis. He has been the WCM at the Chicago office since 1991.
Walker Ashley is an atmospheric scientist and physical geographer with interests in natural hazards and societal interactions, severe storms, synoptic and mesoscale meteorology, applied meteorology/climatology, hydroclimatic variability, and the application of geographic information systems in meteorology. A Certified Consulting Meteorologist, Walker currently works as an associate professor for in the Meteorology Program at Northern Illinois University.
In the past, Walker’s research focused on the examination of mesoscale weather phenomena, principally organized thunderstorm complexes known as mesoscale convective systems. He has investigated the climatology and hazards of widespread and long-lived windstorms known as derechos, the rainfall patterns of convective complexes in the U.S., the importance of increasing population and suburban sprawl on tornado vulnerability, and the geographies of tornado, convective and nonconvective wind, flood, and lightning fatalities in the U.S. His current research focuses on 1) quantifying how human exposure and vulnerability factors contribute to weather-related disasters, 2) the storm morphology of hazardous thunderstorm events, and 3) how urbanization and other land covers influence thunderstorm formation and sustenance.
Roger Edwards is an atmospheric scientist at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. He specializes in forecasting and research of tornadoes, supercells and hurricane-spawned tornadoes. He also is chief Editor for the Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology. Roger’s career began at the National Severe Storms Lab, where he worked for four years as an undergrad and graduate student at OU. Then he went to the National Hurricane Center in Miami for three years, and the National Severe Storms Forecast Center in Kansas City, before moving back to Oklahoma with SPC. Roger witnessed what, at their times, were the costliest tornado, flood and hurricane (at the time) in U.S. history – the Oklahoma City F5 of 1999, the Midwest floods of 1993, and Hurricane Andrew south of Miami in 1992. He also holds a dubious distinction of having his homes inside a hurricane, tornado and earthquake since becoming a professional meteorologist.
Roger doesn’t remember when he became obsessed with severe weather because he always has been. When he was a baby, he would crawl to the screen door to watch lightning. When he was three, he announced to his mom that he wanted to be in a hurricane. By age 6 he had already decided that he would grow up to be a meteorologist. Roger and his wife Elke also are professional imaging artists, and own and operate a web design and stock photography business. Both are avid outdoor photographers and storm observers, and are glad to contribute time, imagery and insight to training efforts in storm spotting and weather education.
Chris Novy graduated with BS/MS degrees in Public Safety (Law Enforcement) from Southern Illinois University. He is also a HAM radio operator since the early ’80s. His call sign is WA9V.
Chris presently works as Assistant Chief Engineer for Fox25/CW34 in Oklahoma City.
He has been involved with emergency management since 1980 in storm spotting, communications, and safety training.
He is technically a storm chaser but prefers the low stress of spotting and being close to home when severe weather strikes. Chris had a very close encounter with an EF-5 tornado on May 24th, 2011 and lived to tell the tale.
Chris volunteers and is very active at the local no-kill animal shelter and has 12 cats of his own
Paul Sirvatka is a professor at the College of DuPage and has received the College Of DuPage Outstanding Faculty Award and Division of Natural Sciences Outstanding Faculty Award. He is also recognized for receiving National Science Foundation Grants to develop a complete curriculum of eleven courses in meteorology. COD has the most successful and largest meteorology program in terms of course offerings of any community college in the nation. COD is a member of UNIDATA, a nation-wide consortium of institutions dedicated to sharing and developing data resources for education and research. The COD “NEXLAB” web site is one of the most popular in-depth weather information web sites, used by thousands of users in education, government, military and private companies.
We are thrilled to welcome Skip Talbot to this year’s event:
“Hi, I’m Skip Talbot, a software developer and computer graphics artist from the Chicago suburbs. I’ve been interested in severe weather and tornadoes my entire life. When I was only 7 years old, one of the most powerful tornadoes ever recorded destroyed the town of Plainfield, Illinois, which was mere miles from my home at the time. This deeply moving event left in me a great respect for this powerful force of nature and a desire to learn more about it. Over the years my interest continued to grow and in college I started ravenously consuming every bit of knowledge I could find about severe weather and tornadoes. This was not enough, however, and after taking a course in forecasting severe weather and attending Skywarn spotter training, I took to the road, compelled to witness these events first hand.
On May 10, 2003 I stumbled out into the darkness during one of the largest tornado outbreaks in recent history armed with only a weather radio and a map. Although I came away empty handed in my search for tornadoes, and shook up having driven into the core of a severe thunderstorm, I learned from my mistakes and kept at it. It was almost a year later before I witnessed my first tornado, one of the most powerful and awe inspiring moments of my life. It was then that I knew storm chasing would be a life long passion of mine. Since then I’ve witnessed tornadoes of all shapes and sizes and many awesome supercell thunderstorms. I still chase with my trusty weather radio but have expanded my chase arsenal to a wide range of gadgets including computers with gps navigation, radio communications, and robotically controlled camera systems. Every spring you can find me out on the plains, traveling thousands of miles for a fleeting glimpse of the elusive tornado.”
More Bios will be posted as they come in from our speakers. Please check back often and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates.