Sandhya Patel is an American meteorologist for the ABC7 weather department. She is the weekday weather anchor for ABC7 News at 5 and 11 p.m.
She began her career in the news in 1993 and later she began working in the weather center. She joined ABC7 in May 1999. She forecasts the weekday weather of Monterey Bay at 5 and 11 p.m. Moreover, Patel also worked as a host for Good Morning America’s weekend show.
Previously, she worked for KCBA Fox News in Salinas. She held various positions before becoming a weather anchor including a reporter, assignment editor, writer and producer.
She holds the American Meteorological Seal of Approval (AMS) and the National Weather Association Seal of Approval (NWA).
Sandhya Patel Education
Sandhya received a Bachelor of Arts in radio and television from San Francisco State University and her Certificate in Meteorology from Mississippi State University.
Sandhya Patel PhotoSandhya Patel Age
Sandhya was born in San Francisco, the United States. However, she hasn’t revealed her actual date of birth hence we don’t know when she was born or when she celebrates her birthday.
Sandhya Patel Husband
Sandhya Patel is a married woman and is a mother of three children; a son named Alexandria Patel and in 2009, she gave birth to her twin children a son Nicholas Patel and a daughter Ashley Patel.
Sandhya Patel Salary
According to some sources, a meteorologist in the United States earns an average salary of around $61,500 per year. Therefore, Patel might also have a salary in the same range.
Sandhya Patel Twitter
Sandhya Patel Interview
Interviewer: What made you decide to go in the field of telling the weather?
Sandhya Patel: It was a complete accident! I started out in news in Salinas in 1999 doing a variety of jobs from reporting, anchoring, writing, producing to helping run the assignment desk. When I was assigned the task of writing a weather segment for our anchors to read, I was fascinated. I have always loved science and math, so this was not a surprise. I had gotten my Bachelor of Arts in Radio and Television, but I didn’t have my meteorology credentials, so I didn’t think I would ever have a chance. One of my managers saw potential and gave me the opportunity to do weekend weather at Fox in Salinas. I gave it my best shot, learned everything I could from our chief meteorologist and went back to school to get my meteorology credentials. I was working full time in TV while getting my education. After 3 ½ years, I got my certificate in meteorology, the American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval and the National Weather Association Seal of Approval. Shortly after, I was promoted to the main Monday through Friday position and I worked that job for about three years before coming here to ABC7 News in San Francisco in the late 90s. I did weekend morning weather for over 7 years and then, my big promotion came when I was moved up to the prime-time weeknight position bringing you the forecast at 5pm and 11pm nightly!
Interviewer: How many years have you been a Meteorologist?
Sandhya Patel: I have been forecasting the weather for over two decades from the Monterey Bay to the San Francisco Bay Area. I was born and raised in these areas, so I was fortunate to have the opportunity to build my career in both regions.
Interviewer: How has technology in predicting the weather changed over the years?
Sandhya Patel: We have many more powerful tools to forecast the weather more precisely and accurately than we did years ago. We have seen advances in everything from satellites to radar to computer models. Of course, we also have the best tool, our radar… Live Doppler7 to track storms!
Interviewer: When you’re out and about and people recognize you … is there that one question you always get asked?
Sandhya Patel: You know the obvious … “what is the weather going to be like?” The other one I hear quite a bit is… “the next storm level 1 or 2?” We have an exclusive ABC7 News Storm Impact Scale that we use to rank storms from 1 to 5 from light to severe and it has been catching on!
Interviewer: Can you share a few career highlights you’ve had?
Sandhya Patel: I was invited to fill in on Good Morning America shortly after I had my twins! I was flattered and thrilled to be given the honor! It was an opportunity of a lifetime and as much as I was overwhelmed with twins and a 3-year old, I could not pass this up, so I did it. I will never forget that weekend! It was one unforgettable moment!
Interviewer: Why does the Bay Area have so many micro-climates?
Sandhya Patel: We have so many micro climates because we have a varied topography from the coast to the mountains to the valleys and our weather is influenced by our proximity to the Pacific. As you know, in the summer we can see a 40 to 45-degree difference between a foggy Half Moon Bay to a sunny and hot Livermore. We also see differences in rainfall within the same city.
Interviewer: Are there other areas in the U.S. that have as many micro-climates within a short distance of each other like the SF Bay Area?
Sandhya Patel: Our micro climates makes our area so unique! We see a wide variation in temperatures in the summer and even differences in rainfall within a short distance in the same city. I don’t know of any place in the U.S. that comes close to our dozens of micro-climates.
Interviewer: In your years of covering weather, what is the one weather event that you will never forget?
Sandhya Patel: There are so many but, I will mention a few here. I was on air forecasting the weather during the 1997-98 El Nino and I had never seen anything like this in my lifetime! We were on air night and day covering one of the most catastrophic events in recent history! On a lighter note, I will never forget being sent out to the Golden Gate bridge with little information from our assignment desk that had reports of hail on the bridge. When I arrived with my photographer, we had just a few minutes to mic up and go live. It looked like a scene from the Sierra! It wasn’t snow but a thick coat of hail on the bridge that slowed down traffic and created quite a scene.
Interviewer: Have you ever had that the one embarrassing moment on TV you can share with us?
Sandhya Patel: Absolutely! I am meticulous about checking and double checking my work since I ad-lib my entire weather segment and take great pride in making sure everything is accurate and correct. On my last day at Fox in Salinas, my co-workers/friends wanted to take me out to dinner to celebrate so I went and when I returned, I updated my show but didn’t play it back more than once. Unfortunately, one transition between graphics didn’t work well with our system and my graphics turned pink and purple on air… on my last night there! The anchor of the show and I played it off, but it was not exactly a shining moment for me! I reset the computer and went back on air a few minutes later with graphics that were presentable. Thankfully, my viewers were forgiving.
Source: bayareawomenmag.com