When it comes to the weather, you've got a lot of choices as far as where you get your information.
You can watch it on TV.
You can hear about it on the radio.
Get a forecast delivered via e-mail.
And if you've got a smartphone, there are more apps than you can shake a stick at.
But when it comes to getting down-to-earth, concise but thoroughly-explained coverage of weather for ALL of Indiana and the surrounding states, I can think of just one source – HoosierWX.com.
If you are a Twitter follower, you know that meteorologist Chris Johnson is on top of every storm situation that arises, no matter where it is in the Hoosier State and beyond. They do a fantastic job.
You might be wondering, though – just how did he get into this anyway?
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| CHRIS JOHNSON |
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Johnson grew up in Frankfort, the seat of Clinton County in north-central Indiana. While he's long been interested in weather, it wasn't originally what he saw himself doing as a job.
“My affection for storms happened at a young age as most meteorologist, my mother and I would enjoy watching summer storms race across the prairie,” Johnson explained. “When the temperature dropped below zero, I remember opening the front door with a bucket of water throwing it up in the air and watching it freeze before it would hit the ground and the sound it made like glass breaking.”
Until his first son was born, he'd entertained thoughts of becoming a war correspondent, but as happens when a child enters your life, Johnson changed gears and worked toward a career in law enforcement, earning a degree in criminology from Indiana State University with a minor in meteorology. However, with the economy and resulting hiring freezes in the public sector, he decided to change gears and focus his educational pursuits on the weather.
"I have been forecasting now for about seven years, and I think that I do a good job," Johnson told me. "Maybe our followers can tell me what they really think.
"HoosierWX, as many people don't know, started off with my best friend Randy Rogers who still contributes with forecasts," he continued. "I felt that we outgrew the North Central Indiana region and broadened our scope to cover the entire state."
Chris is known to his Twitter friends as an approachable, down-to-earth guy who does this because he loves it, and he's developed quite a loyal following. Regardless of the time, day or night, when someone asks a question, he answers.
And for those who might be wondering, he does all this for free. “I know that I'm not getting a paycheck and I'm not going to make a whole lot of money doing this,” Johnson said. “I do it from the kindness of my heart and the enjoyment of knowing that I might help someone through their day.”
And I can tell you – he does an absolute Grade A job of that!
I'm glad we've got Chris and the whole team at HoosierWX.com around, although, given my mission here at JDTVB, I'd love to see Chris find work in broadcasting. He provides a needed service, one that I am proud to use on a daily basis here at JDTVB. You'll find a link to the site on my Links page. If you haven't yet checked it out, you should.
UPDATE, 9:35 PM: If WFIE programming is removed from Mediacom, it would affect Mediacom customers ONLY in Daviess, Henderson, Hopkins and Ohio counties in Kentucky.
