2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season

Speaker Date: May 12, 2023

A detailed look at the climatological set-up for the upcoming hurricane season.

On-Demand Streaming Video

PDF Presentation

Brad Panovich
WCNC Charlotte Weather Team

BIOGRAPHY

Growing up outside of Cleveland, Ohio, I’ve always been fascinated by severe weather. I love thunderstorms, tornadoes, blizzards and hurricanes. My parents thought I was crazy, but they soon realized I really loved this stuff!

By the time I was 6 years old, I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist. I wanted to be a scientist, not some “TV weather guy,” I wanted to chase storms and do research. Plus, those TV guys were always wrong and really weren’t trained meteorologists (so I thought – wrongly, as it turned out some were). But at Copley High School in Copley, Ohio, I got to take part in a mentorship program with a TV meteorologist and a National Weather Service meteorologist. I was really blown away by all the computers and technology the TV meteorologist used, and I really enjoyed making graphics. Not to mention the thing I love about weather the most is sharing my passion with others, even if they think I’m kind of strange.

I then picked my college based on the meteorology program. So naturally, I attended The Ohio State University and played a little soccer there along the way. During my junior and senior years at OSU, I was able to chase tornadoes with my fellow students and professors during the Spring quarter. It was the best spring break I could have imagined.

After OSU, I landed a job at the NBC station in Dayton, Ohio, doing the morning shift. Soon another station came calling — this time a smaller market FOX affiliate that offered a unique opportunity. They asked me to start an entire weather department from the ground up. I was to be their first Chief Meteorologist in Traverse City, Michigan. Talk about snow!

Not 15 months later, I was attending a weather conference and was asked if I’d like to work in New Orleans. I soon was moving to the Big Easy as the weekend meteorologist at WWL-TV, the CBS affiliate on the Gulf Coast. I spent more than three years there, chasing hurricanes and rainstorms that often flooded the city. The entire city sits below sea level. Talk about heavy rain! In 2005, I actually went back to help out my old station before a hurricane hit the Gulf coast. I ended up being in the middle of the worst hurricane in U.S. history, Hurricane Katrina. I rode the storm out in a cramped conference hall attached to the Super Dome and spent two nights in the city before being moved up to Baton Rouge, where I stayed for 15 days working for WWL. I went back a week later to work again as Hurricane Rita approached the Gulf Coast and stayed another two weeks.

Now, I am happy to be here at WCNC Charlotte as part of the WCNC Charlotte Weather Team. I really love Charlotte and the Carolinas with their proximity to the mountains and the beach. I’m an avid outdoor adventurer, and the Carolinas provide me and my wife and 2 children along with our dog lots of places to explore.

When I’m not working I still follow the weather. It’s a passion that I’ve luckily turned into a career. I love biking, golfing, hiking and playing soccer and basketball.

If you see me around, feel free to ask me about the weather. It’s my favorite topic of conversation.

Email: bpanovich@wcnc.com Follow: Brad Panovich on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.