In this case, it's actually true... his head is in the clouds.
Nestled away in a cavernous studio beneath a bank of lighting worthy of a Stones concert and corralled by a horde of monitors he sits, much like Alfred from the Batman films, only without the wrinkles or a buddy who sports a cape. I'm first struck by the fact that WSFA meteorologists cannot view the weather from this perch. The nearest window is lost somewhere down a labyrinth of hallways. I guess he's just that good....
"I feel so fortunate," Eric Snitil says. "I shouldn't be here."
Entering the storm front
A native of Ohio, Snitil earned his meteorology accreditation - Certificate with Advanced Standing in Broadcast Meteorology - from Mississippi State University.
Studying at Kent State, Snitil was the weather director for the university's television station, which reached 20,000 households.
And he's fresh off a year-long stint in Anchorage, Alaska. Snitil says he purposefully sought an area that would pose a wealth of challenges and dynamic weather conditions. He says at least once a month there was a storm the equivalent of Category 3 or 4 hurricane.
Snitil cites one day when he was live on the air and saw the physical impact of shockwaves moving through a building across the street. The rumbling and shaking were unmistakable. With cameras rolling, he was experiencing an earthquake, which he says registered a 5.6 on the Richter Scale.
In his five years as a professional meteorologist Snitil has already landed honors. In 2009 and 2010, back to back, he was named Best Weathercaster in the country by the Broadcast Education Association.
Snitil joined WSFA's Doppler 12 StormVision team in September of 2011.
Lightning strikes early
"I've always been interested... as far back as I can remember," Snitil says. So far back that he isn't able to cite a particular time when meteorology entered his life. "I've always been the weather guy," he says. "Ever since I was little, this has been what I do... they just pay me to do it now. That's the only difference," he says.
"My whole life is a nerdy moment," Snitil says, laughing, referring to his consuming passion for meteorology. "I have a tick," he says, smiling. "This is what I live for. This is what I love to do."
"It needs to consume you," he says. "If you don't love it, it makes for long days."
He cites the mystery facet of weather as keeping his interest fresh and potent. "There are still so many unknowns." Snitil says the lure of such variables, piecing together all the elements, solving the mystery is what makes him tick.
Snitil says he always been most interested in the "severe" aspects of weather.
And he admits it: "I'm a storm chaser." But he explains that his drive to run down severe weather has come full circle as he has become more attuned to the impact such events have on those around us.
"There are so many horror stories," he says, describing the product of severe weather events. Snitil says it creates a "love, hate" scenario in which he relishes learning about and examining severe weather, but it's seriously tempered by the damage - physical, emotional and economic - it can entail.
About six weeks ago, Snitil once again flexed his storm-chasing muscles. "I hopped in the car in my pajamas" to chase a storm north of Prattville, he says. Pajamas. He said he had merely 90 minutes to spare before reporting to work, and he couldn't pass it up.
And he was doing it at least as far back as age 15. "I could make my own schedule and be up all night."
Swapping a barometer for a microphone
"Wednesday through Friday, I'm a journalist," Snitil says.
In addition to appearing in segments pertaining to weather - special reports on caring for plants during freezes or segments on phenomena such as eclipses, Snitil also tackles non-meteorological subjects.
He has reported live from the recent rodeo - even donning a cowboy hat - and covered a blood drive.
Weathering the evolution of technology
Technological advances aren't limited to smart phones and an avalanche of apps. Part of the drill as a meteorologist involves keeping up with weather-related technology.
Snitil and his WSFA fellow StormVision troopers are now employing dual polarization radar, which Snitil describes as giving "depth" to their existing arsenal of meteorological tools. Specifically he says it's beneficial in terms of identifying and examining tornadoes.
"It completely changes the game," Snitil says. "We can pick up a tornado ball from a tornado." (A tornado debris ball is composed of debris - anything from roof shingles to trees - lifted and hurled into the area as a direct result of tornadic activity on the ground.) It can distinguish between a mere storm that's rotating and an actual tornado. "Only a tornado will loft debris up into the air," Snitil says, and that's one of the greatest benefits of the new radar.
And in terms of precipitation, it can distinguish between different forms to better determine if the atmosphere is producing rain, sleet, hail, even pinpointing the size and shape of raindrops, Snitil says.
"It's a significant step forward," Snitil says. "It's a new way of doing things."
He says the learning process has just begun with dual polarization radar, even though WSFA meteorologists are already factoring in data gleaned from it.
"What we show on air is just a sliver of a bigger picture that we're looking at," he says, "We're adding more ways of gathering that information."
Central pressure
"There are days when we could go for 10 minutes," Snitil says, describing days in which weather patterns and conditions warrant a more lengthy explanation. Keeping the main forecast - often when only three to three and half minutes are allotted - can be a challenge, which is one reason Snitil is fond of opportunities afforded by social media.
On Facebook, Snitil says, "I can go on and on!" He and his colleagues also produce blogs on the WSFA website to offer more in-depth weather coverage than the TV window allows.
"It's storytelling," Snitil says. "You need to filter through that data and say what's the most important stuff we need to get across in that three minutes."
Snitil didn't seem overly excited to mention it, but yes, he's slathered with makeup prior to appearing on camera. The routine also involves styling his hair a certain way. When he started, honing his appearance actually involved "lots of consultation." In case you're wondering, he recently turned 26 years old. How you project and how you look are key in being an on-air personality, he says.
"When they [viewers] think they're looking at somebody fresh out of high school it can be tough to earn their trust," Snitil says. "You learn to take some of the criticisms.... You have to step back and realize - You know what? I'm doing alright."
"I've been very lucky. I was one of the few to get a job right out of college in an actual market," he says.
***
If one ever wondered how Snitil and his meteorological cohorts bounce from the StormVision desk to the green screen, it's actually just a few steps away. The magic of camera angles! It isn't always such a smooth move, however. Snitil admits he tripped over a camera cable once during a broadcast.
He says the operators behind the camera are also giving Snitil and his on-air cohorts cues, which can come in handy when he can't hear anything that's going on.
He mentions how his ear piece has gone out before, leaving him unable to hear his broadcast colleague, journalist Samuel King, who's sitting a good 20 feet away.
"I have to come up with a standard answer that fits every question," Snitil says when King "throws" it to him, but he has no clue what King has said, he has to respond somehow.
***
During bouts of severe weather, every meteorologist has a role. Chief Meteorologist Rich Thomas may be on camera and Snitil may be monitoring data. Tornado warnings always trigger the team going on air to provide updates.
Snitil says he once spent the night in the studio. What warranted an in-studio camping expedition? There was a 1 percent chance of a tornado. One percent.
It's not uncommon for him to get four hours of sleep on Saturday night after weather-anchoring the 10 p.m. newscast then returning for the Sunday morning newscast, he says.
"It's fairly constant that you're kind of plugged here," Snitil says, surveying the weather desk.
Viewers can catch Snitil giving live weather reports Friday through Sunday and during the rest of the week doing meteorology-related news segments and some feature segments. Monday and Tuesday comprise his "weekend," but you can still receive info through his Twitter and Facebook virtually all the time.
Fair to cloudy... with a click
WSFA and Snitil aren't confined by three minutes of air time during a newscast. The internet - and social media in particular - lends itself to a more personal and even more comprehensive flow of information.
Snitil says everyone at WSFA has a Facebook page, and that it's "more rigorous" than the traditional ways of reporting on the weather.
"We now utilize [social media] as a completely separate way of getting that information across to them," Snitil says. Instead of using that media as augmentation, WSFA is spear-heading it as a stand-alone outlet for weather coverage.
Snitil says many of his Facebook "friends" -already numbering more than 6,000 - have stated that it's their sole source of weather coverage for their area.
He cites a recent bout of severe weather in which he wasn't on the WSFA clock but was hunkered down at home, monitoring data and keeping social media users in the loop.
"It can be a 24-hour a day thing where you're not getting a lot of sleep," Snitil says. He says this dramatic shift toward increasing reliance on social media for such information has greatly accelerated over the past five years.
"You don't know the backstory with all the people. You don't know what they went through last April," The April 2011 tornado outbreak took 235 lives in Alabama alone. Snitil says, "You don't know that they lost their house... they lost a family member." Many online are often seeking information specific to their area, notably in regards to severe weather.
WSFA viewers and non-viewers alike regularly seek details on potentially severe weather, posting to his page around the clock.
In addition to basic forecasts, Snitil can supplement weather-watchers with additional data and even fun activities such as hosting trivia contests. Often the winner receives a big "shout-out" during that night's televised forecast.
The interactivity is readily apparent. Facebookers share photos of sunsets, pose questions, and sometimes simply get to know Snitil better. They're even treated to updates on Snitil's dog, the incomparable Baxter, whom he has anointed "Assistant Meteorologist."
Snitil bonded with Baxter on the spot during a televised WSFA newscast in which adoptable pets from the Montgomery Humane Society are featured. (Read more about the Montgomery Humane Society in the Capital City Free Press' "The Bark, the bite and everything in between.")
The darkest cloud
"There's no reason not to know," Snitil says, solemnly mentioning the many ways citizens can inform themselves of severe weather. He cites tornado sirens (though he explains those are not intended to be heard indoors and are therefore not ideal as a warning system), weather radios, mobile phone apps/texting, phone calls, traditional radio and televised segments. It's standard for WSFA meteorologists to insist the public have three ways of securing severe weather warnings.
"It is frustrating at times when you know there wasn't a reason for somebody to not have been warned," Snitil says.
"We may not get a tornado warning [from the National Weather Service] until 30 seconds before a tornado is bearing down on your house," Snitil says. "You should have been aware at some point that there was the potential for severe weather that day."
Peeking behind the green screen
Snitil says what you don't see consumes most of his day. Even before leaving for the studio, he's checking weather-related data at home, specifically computer models. From administering and keeping in touch with his Facebook and Twitter "friends" to constantly keeping tabs on data, Snitil says the "little things" never appear on camera. Forecasts are also produced for radio (13 stations rely on WSFA weather forecasting) and printed publications.
"You wake up and you're forecasting," Snitil says. "You come in here... you forecast a little bit more."
Sharing the warm front
WSFA meteorologists step away from the camera more than you may think. A recent effort included visiting cities throughout the station's viewing area to program citizen's NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather radios. The devices can be set to activate automatically, giving individuals instantaneous warnings specific to their area whenever severe weather is a threat as determined by the National Weather Service.
WSFA meteorologists, station staff and volunteers meet area residents and assist them in programming the radios, including fielding any questions they may have. Snitil says in additional to the five-hour visits, the crowds were often already in motion before they arrived, and the crew often stayed late to ensure everyone in attendance received help.
Snitil and his colleagues regularly visit area schools to give presentations on meteorology. He says Josh Johnson made 25 such visits last month alone. School groups are often treated to tours of the studio as well.
WSFA meteorologists especially savor their Sketch the Sky program in which area youngsters submit drawings of well.... the sky... then the winners are chosen to participate in recreational activities, a meal and a meet-and-greet program with the meteorologists themselves. Treated to a full-fledged party, the young people are also introduced to the basics of meteorology… and in Eric's case, beaten senseless in a game of bowling by an elementary school student.
"That is one of my favorite things to do on this job," Snitil says. "That's usually something all these kids remember for a long time." He says school presentations are very gratifying as well. "It's a lot of fun... you know you've made an impact on somebody."
Snitil and his colleagues are also often "shadowed" by young people, enabling individuals studying meteorology to observe and experience of a day in the life of a WSFA meteorologist. He says he gets the opportunity to guide several "shadows" per month.
***
Snitil is updating the Weather Line, a service which allows individuals to call a StormVision hotline and receive weather updates. He says it's updated twice a day and more frequently for severe weather, and thousands in our viewing area take advantage of the service.
After quickly scratching out a few notes, Snitil hushes me, spins around in his chair and nails it in one take. No rehearsing or even scripting the information. The delivery is seamless and one would think he had been practicing it all morning.
Clearing the (hot) air
Tackling a hot topic, Snitil recently confronted the sometimes overblown predictions of some who sensationalize long-range predictions of severe weather, notably the overly dramatic predictions of a worse than usual tornado season.
Snitil spear-headed a segment in which he debunked such premature, overly dire predictions.
"I'm not a real big fan of the articles that have gotten national attention about the fact that it's a La Nina year and that means we're going to have a deadly tornado year. I'm not a big fan of that fact that they've singled out Alabama."
"A lot of folks have been panicked" as a result of these articles, Snitil says. He stresses that such segments are to clear the proverbial air and explain how tornados are the result of individual storm systems and conditions and therefore can't be seriously predicted several months out.
"It's irresponsible to single out any state," Snitil says. Made worse, he says, due to so many Alabamians being justifiably sensitive about the issue of tornados in the wake of April 27, 2011 and the devastation of that day.
***
Snitil says each meteorologist has his or her own technique for examining data and producing forecasts.
"I like to get as much information as I can from as many layers of the atmosphere as I can," Snitil says. And sometimes that may be considered "overkill" he says, but it helps him to maximum accuracy.
"We're all looking at the same data. It's just how you personally perceive it," he says.
"Basically the computer models give their two cents on what they think is going to happen in the atmosphere over a period of time. We have this databank in our heads of everything that we know - biases from the models, things that happen on a small scale that the models can't pick up in the state of Alabama - and we take what they're giving us, what we know as meteorologists, and we come to a conclusion usually somewhere in between."
He describes solely relying on National Weather Service information as little more than plagiarism. "It's cheating," he's says. Snitil stresses how each meteorologist should be committed to sifting through data and making calculations based on his or her own interpretation of the data rather than re-hashing, or simply repeating, already available information.
And reaching his audience is paramount. "It doesn't work well to sound smart if no one takes anything away from it," Snitil says.
Partial eclipse
Despite his overwhelming passion for the meteorological world - and the time it requires - Snitil does sneak in a few past-times and hobbies. In addition to a barometer, he also swings a bat. Snitil has played baseball most of his life. Somewhat relegated to the dugout due to some shoulder issues, he says he should be returning to the diamond any time now.
Snitil also collects baseball cards and plays guitar... "poorly" as he describes it. With baseball cards, he says, "That’s a hobby that has stuck with me since I was a youngster. I'm still waiting to grow up, I guess."
And despite proving it on television and receiving a paycheck for it, Snitil still counts meteorology as a hobby.
"I know it’s work now, but even when I’m not at work I’m keeping up with the latest from a pure interest and passion standpoint. It’s easy to attribute it all to being part of the job, but it’s not. There’s still a solid chunk of it that exists purely because I want it to," he says.
Snitil has also found a related passion through photography, enabling him to capture all the wonders of nature, especially the meteorological aspects.
"I use my passion for weather and weave it into my love of photography. They each stand alone as a hobby, but are even better together," he says. For the photography buffs out there, Snitil uses a Canon Rebel t2i with a variety of lenses.
"It’s not so much a forum for me to break away from weather, but rather an additional avenue to keep up with the meteorological theme," Snitil says.
***
I've turned off the recorder so hopefully Eric can catch his breath. I probably need to catch mine as well. I'm attempting to take photographs for this article, following him as he pops up behind the weather desk, then the news desk, then in front of the green screen. It's little more than adults playing photographic peek-a-boo. But as attentive and cooperative as he may be, there's something drawing him back to his computer models, specialized software and his neatly stacked piles of data. He's got that look like an excited child would brandish on Christmas morning, only he's itching to unwrap what our atmosphere holds for the next 24 hours rather than some carefully packaged present. Then again, this work - this passion - is his gift, and he gets to open a new one every day and share it with the rest of us.
And frankly, I'm hungry and ready to leave. Eric has worn me out with his knowledge and his all-consuming passion for meterology. It's not a bad thing at all, though. But more importantly, I don't want to miss tonight's forecast.
***
Eric Snitil on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eric-Snitil-WSFA/146882732076124
Eric Snitil on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/EricSnitil
WSFA: http://www.wsfa.com
WSFA on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WSFA12
WSFA on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/WSFA12news
Eric's Weather Web Picks:
The Weather Prediction: http://www.theweatherprediction.com/
Spaghetti Models: http://spaghettimodels.com/
National Weather Service - Storm Prediction Center: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/
About the author: Joseph O. Patton is the editor-in-chief and founder of the Capital City Free Press. He is a former news editor for the Coosa County News, lead reporter for the Montgomery Independent and editor-in-chief of the AUMnibus, the student newspaper of Auburn-Montgomery. Patton is also the creator of and writer for the satirical news radio segment "Goat Hill Gossip," which previously aired on WAUD in Auburn, Alabama and has appeared on several Central Alabama radio programs as a political analyst.
Copyright © Capital City Free Press
About the author: Joseph O. Patton is the editor-in-chief and founder of the Capital City Free Press. He is a former news editor for the Coosa County News, lead reporter for the Montgomery Independent and editor-in-chief of the AUMnibus, the student newspaper of Auburn-Montgomery. Patton is also the creator of and writer for the satirical news radio segment "Goat Hill Gossip," which previously aired on WAUD in Auburn, Alabama and has appeared on several Central Alabama radio programs as a political analyst.
Copyright © Capital City Free Press
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