Lon's Homepage

Welcome to my main homepage.
Within you'll find information about the things I do professionally and for fun.
This is an evolving effort, so explore it often. From time to time there will be changes!

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"We are a way for the universe to know itself.  Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can,  because the Cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff."

  - Carl Sagan

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Land of the free, home of the brave; long may it wave ...

This is my cat, Cali Sue. I happen to think that she is gorgeous!

In case you're interested, here's a little information about me:

At the end of May, 2001, I retired from the Bell County District Attorney's Office and accepted full-time employment with KWTX-TV in Waco. After six years as the Morning and Noon meteorologist, I recently moved up to the Noon and 5pm position Monday through Friday. Prior to the career change, I was an Assistant District Attorney in Bell County, Texas for 24 years. In my career as a prosecutor, I was active in providing continuing legal education (CLE) for my colleagues, lecturing and writing for training programs for prosecutors.

In 1997, I was involved in storm spotting and chasing during a tornado outbreak in Central Texas. I saw eight separate tornadoes that day (May 27, 1997), including the tornado at Jarrell, Texas which killed 27 people and destroyed an entire neighborhood. As a result of those events, I was offered an opportunity to become associated with KWTX-TV in Waco and in late 1997, became the (part time) weekend weather anchor for KWTX. My interest in meteorology and weather goes back a long time, beginning during the 4th grade at Tyler Elementary School in Belton. My 4th grade teacher, Lillian Messer, helped generate my interest in weather through her interest in geography. After graduating from high school, I had a weekday weathercast on radio station KTON in Belton, Texas.

I am very fortunate to have an opportunity to pursue one of my lifelong avocations as a second career. In 2001, I completed 40 hours of meteorology courses from Mississippi State University and and received that university's Certificate in Broadcast Meteorology. I hold the Weathercaster Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association

... and the new Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation from the American Meteorological Society.

I'm also actively involved in meteorological research: an on-going project involves examining the production of tornadoes by tropical cyclones as they make landfall. I have narrowed the scope of my research in this area to the role of mid-level dry air intrusions. My manuscript describing the results of the research has been published in the AMS journal Weather and Forecasting. Here is a link to the article. [Note: viewing requires Adobe Acrobat.]

Me!

Click here to access some of my other tornado, storm and nature photographs.

Nat'l. Weather Service forecasts and warnings for Texas

KWTX News10 Homepage
 

 Click here to access my Weather Outlooks and Forecasts section.

 Click here to access my Recent Severe Events in Central Texas section.

  Now available ... "Jarrell 'Reprise' ... A New Look at the Unusual Central Texas Tornado Outbreak of 1997"! .

More links are available in my Severe Weather Outlooks and Forecasts section!

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