Chad Myers Biography
Chad Myers born Chad Everett Myers is an American Meteorologist and severe weather expert for CNN. He earned a bachelors degree in meteorology from the University of Nebraska. He is a native of Buffalo, New York he joined CNN in October 1999. He was born in Buffalo, New York.
Chad Myers Wife/Married
Myers is married to his longtime girlfriend, he has not shared who his wife is yet although.
Chad Myers Education
Myers earned a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from the University of Nebraska and holds the American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval.
Chad Myers Career
Myers served as a meteorologist for the morning and noon news broadcasts for WXYZ-TV in Detroit. From 1991-1994, he also served as chief meteorologist and anchored the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts for WSYX-TV in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to working at WSYX-TV, he served as the weekend meteorologist for ABC affiliate KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City.
He served as the morning and noon meteorologist at WTVR-TV in Richmond, Va., and as weekend weather/environmental reporter at KOLN-TV in Lincoln, Neb. From 1985-1987, Myers worked within the Techniques Developmental Lab of the National Weather Service in Silver Spring, Md., developing the computer systems for the AWIPS 90 forecasts and NEXRAD radar.
2005 he had an on-air argument with anchor Carol Costello when she kept interrupting him when he was giving the weather report. 2010 he claimed on air that climatologists were reporting the climate only because their jobs were on stake and that they were working for the government.
August 2016 Bill Nye criticized CNN for having a climate change denier meteorologist. However, Myers wrote that subsequent to 2013’s crossing of 400 ppm carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, he was no longer a skeptic, and had changed his views on the science behind climate change.
Chad Myers Photo
Chad Myers PhotoChad Myers CNN
Myers is a weather anchor and severe weather expert for CNN Worldwide based in the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta. Previously, Myers served as a meteorologist and weather anchor for CNN/U.S.
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Chad Myers Interview
CNN: How far in advance can you forecast a tornado?
CHAD MYERS: You can probably make some kind of 15-day weather outlook because we have computers that look that far ahead. But the weather really can be accurately forecasted 48 hours in advance.
We would know [that a tornado may be coming] if there’s a trough, a large low-pressure system. If we see that on a long-range forecast that automatically puts up a red [alert]. But if it’s a big high-pressure dome — over Oklahoma that goes north into Canada, west to the Rockies, through Chicago — we know tornadoes aren’t likely.
The Storm Prediction Center points out areas of concern three days in advance. But those would be for a pretty wide, general area — not just particular counties, but maybe a whole state like Kansas.
I was in Norman, Oklahoma, for the [March 2004] outbreak in north Texas. We knew 12 hours in advance tornadoes were coming, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we can soon put out an outlook for a day ahead.
CNN: In addition to computer models, what tools do you use?
MYERS: A computer model is almost like a model car: You put it together, but you’re not sure it will all work as intended. A weather model takes what it knows is happening right now. Sometimes it’s perfect and does well. But some models don’t get it right.
I go model by model. If the computers mess up a little bit, then the forecasts will be messed up. Most of the time they do a pretty good job.
There’s certainly an art to tornado forecasting. It’s both an art and a science like medicine isn’t an exact science. There are many more parameters in weather that we can’t forecast because we can’t [measure every data point].
In the atmosphere, there are an infinite number of layers. In the computer models, we say there are nine layers — one at 850 feet, another a thousand feet up, another 5,000 feet up, another at 10,000, etc. But there’s a lot going between 5000 and 10,000 feet, for example [that you cannot always measure].
Is there an art to looking at those models — to understand that since this happened last time, this can happen now? Yes. Someone who has been in an area studying weather patterns for years has a huge advantage over someone just out of school.
CNN: Are tornadoes more random than other storms?
MYERS: Random is a funny word. Will every state eventually get one? Yes. But there are certain areas that are more prone than others. You can’t just say, let’s throw a dart at that map and whatever you hit is as likely to get a tornado as somewhere else.
In Tornado Alley, there are mountains in the West, the Gulf to the south, then there’s cold air from Canada. All three things come together in a big triangle, from the Dakotas back across the Midwest down to the South.
CNN: Is there anything comparable to Tornado Alley?
MYERS: No, there is no equivalent. There is nothing that sets up like that. There are tornadoes in every country, even places like Holland and England, but … those tornadoes are typically very small, not the big monster tornadoes that we see in the United States.
CNN: What’s your take on storm chasing?
MYERS: I know a lot of storm chasers. The ones that I know have the right equipment, the right preparation. You can’t just fly into Omaha one day to follow a tornado. It’s too dangerous. Tornado chasing isn’t the movie “Twister.”
There’s an art to storm chasing, and it’s a team effort. You need somebody listening to the radio, somebody doing the mapping and one guy who is just driving.
CNN: Are there many tornado myths?
MYERS: Some of the old myths weren’t myths. We used to say to open the windows, but now we know that’s a waste of time. If there is a tornado warning, we used to say go to the southwest corner of the basement. We now know that that’s not the case — the safest part is the center of the basement, preferably under a set of stairs.
More people are killed by getting hit by debris then ever get picked up by a tornado, like Toto in the “Wizard of Oz.” They get hit by the board that flies across while they are out there with their camera. The best thing that you can do is get to a safe zone, as quickly as possible.
CNN: How do people learn that a tornado is going to strike their area?
MYERS: Weather service radio technology lets you program your radio so you get an alert when only your county has one. The old radios just went off all the time [whenever there was an alert]. You just got tired of listening to them.
There are also hopes for weather service television so that your TV would turn on automatically if there is a tornado warning in your area. And then there are sirens in many places.
Many tornado warnings are indicated by Doppler radar, which shows rotation and, with that, whether or not there’s a potential for a tornado.
Before that, we had to see the tornado on the ground before the warning went off. But in the meantime, somebody could’ve been hit.
Right now, we have up to 19 minutes in lead time: They know 19 minutes before that a tornado will strike a given place.