Weathering the Storm

UNC Asheville Atmospheric Sciences Alumni Team Up during Hurricane Ian

By UNC Asheville

November 18^th, 2022

In late September of 2022, as Hurricane Ian was bearing down on Florida, many who found themselves in the storm’s path were evacuating to safer ground. But for two UNC Asheville atmospheric sciences alumni, the work was just getting started, and they weren’t going anywhere.

Though Grant Gilmore ‘06 and Tyler Moore ‘18 didn’t cross paths during their respective years at UNC Asheville, both now work as meteorologists at WTSP 10 Tampa Bay, with Gilmore working weekdays, and Moore covering the weekends. As Hurricane Ian drew closer, putting Tampa in the evacuation zone, it was all hands on deck for Gilmore, Moore and the meteorological team.

“It was looking more and more like a historic storm, one that was going to rapidly intensify,” Gilmore said. “Not only that, but you're looking at it now potentially coming to your home, your community, and that brings on a whole other element of preparation and trying to get your affairs in order.”

Not only were Gilmore and Moore’s own homes in the evacuation zone, the news station was, as well. That meant quickly moving operations to a backup station, making sure their families were prepared and as safe as possible, and continuing to work to get the latest news out to the public.

“Now we're starting to work longer hours,” Gilmore said. “We're doubling up on our shifts, so there's less time for people to prepare for their families.”

Gilmore, Moore, and the station’s other meteorologists split into teams in order to provide continuous coverage throughout the hurricane event. Gilmore and Moore formed a team working a 12-hour shift from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. starting on Tuesday, Sept. 27. “You never know how long that's going to last. It could be for two days, it could be for a week, it could be longer depending on how bad it is,” Gilmore said.

Even hours when they weren’t working were rarely restful. “As a meteorologist, you want to be up on the latest to make sure that you're covering the storm all the way through,” Moore said. “It's hard to sleep during a storm. Your adrenaline is going. You want to keep seeing the latest updates, because they're coming in so often at that point, and it's really hard to shut your mind off.”

While the team did have hotel rooms, it was often too difficult or dangerous to leave the station to make it to the hotel, so they would catch a few hours of sleep on blowup mattresses at the station. Gilmore, Moore and their colleagues spent three days straight, from Sept. 27 to 29, providing continuous coverage. And even when the immediate danger passed and Hurricane Ian moved on, the work continued.

“The impacts are going to last for not just weeks, but for months and potentially years,” Gilmore said. “As a station, we go from forecasting before the storm and leading up to it, then afterwards it switches to the stories of the people and what they are going through.”

It’s the kind of work Gilmore and Moore are both passionate about, and were well prepared for because of their time at UNC Asheville.

“You’ve got to be prepared to work crazy hours, to work through these long storms, whether you're in the plains covering tornadoes or down here in Florida where you get the hurricanes. It’s about being well diversified,” said Moore. “That’s something that I really am thankful for from UNC Asheville, having a really diverse education within the atmosphere science program. I feel like I could go anywhere in the country and be a decent forecaster and hop right in.”

“One thing that I learned at UNCA was the more you start learning about atmospheric science, the more you realize there's a lot more to learn,” Gilmore said. “And I think that urge to want to learn more, be curious, ask those questions, and try to find the answers is something that really serves any scientist.”

“When Tyler got the job here, it was great that we had another Bulldog in the weather department, and especially when we worked Hurricane Ian together,” Gilmore continued. “We do have a lot of the same foundations. We've had some of the same professors. There’s a cool connection there that you feel proud of.”

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