Last month the kids began studying weather in school. We have been trying to find supplemental activities for them and Jihad has seem to taken a special interest in the weather. Therefore, we inquired about an opportunity for them to visit one of our local news stations, WSMV Channel 4 (our NBC affiliate), so that they could get a behind-the-scenes view. I was quite ecstatic when weatherman Dan Thomas replied that we could indeed visit.
Last night we arrived at the news station a little after 6pm. I was thinking we’d just get an overview of how Dan does the weather, but imagine our surprise when we learned we would actually be watching them do the newscast live! We had seats right next to the green screen and of course had to be quiet since it was a live broadcast.
The studio was less crowded than I would have thought. Besides Dan, there were two staff members and Demetria Kalodimos was at the anchor desk.
Demetria at the anchor desk.
Later in the broadcast Jennifer Johnson replaced Demtria as the anchor and Rudy Kalis came in to do the sports.
Jennifer at the anchor desk.
Rudy, just before his part of the broadcast.
They all said hello to us and Demetria even came over to shake our hands (note, I was a little awe struck – I heart Demetria. I used to watch her and Dan Miller every day.)
After the broadcast, Dan showed Jihad the computers he uses to view the weather and create the forecast. We also were able to see him use the storm tracker. Jihad even had a chance to use the weather computer, as well as the clicker that moves between the slides of the weather maps. Dan shared with us that he learned meteorology at Penn State University – apparently, 25% of all weather forecasters come from there. And, Penn State has an annual weather camp too for kids & adults interested in learning more.
Jihad & Dan
In front of the weather desk.
and the kids even sat at the anchor desk — you could see them doing this one day themselves right?
Kaleya the anchorwoman
Jihad the anchorman
Dan showed us around the rest of the building so we saw where the show producers, writers and other staff sit. Thank you Dan four the visit & tour and being so accommodating for our family. The kids loved it! We parents loved it too! 
