Southlake's Dan Henry and the team of FOX4 are dedicated to getting people through tornado season - Photo courtesy of BluDoor Studios
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“Tell me the weather,” Mark the WECT TV camera operatorbrasked the anxious man in front of him. For weeks behind the scenes, Mark hadbrbeen observing newest weekend meteorologist in Wilmington, N.C. — and from hisbrvantage point, just minutes away from going live in front of thousands, hebrcould see the young man before him was still as green as the screen he stood inbrfront of.
It was 1990, and Dan Henry had just graduated from PennbrState University — one of the country's premier meteorology programs. Like mostbrcollege graduates, Dan was willing to start at the bottom. WECT was a smallbrstation somewhere in the mid 140s (out of more than 200 television markets inbrthe country). He spent the weekdays observing his more experienced counterpart frombrbehind the scenes. By the weekends, he was on his own in front of nearly 10,000brviewers, and he was always, “a nervous wreck.”
Well-versed in the science of forecasting weather and armedbrwith practical experience from time spent working for the National WeatherbrService in Washington, D.C., Dan had yet to find his camera presence. Yet uponbrMark's request he immediately, and quite comfortably, launched into abrsuccessful monologue on the day's weather. “Great. Now do that again in 15brminutes,” Mark bluntly responded.
Point made — and to this day, it's a point that five-timebrEmmy Award–Winning FOX 4 weatherman and Southlake resident Dan Henry has neverbrforgotten.
It may be hard to believe, but the polished professional we watchbreach weeknight was not always a natural behind the camera. What was natural howeverbrwas his love for the weather.
“There wasn't a whole lot of weather growing up in the SanbrFrancisco Bay area,” Dan reminisces. “But I still remember the first time I sawbrsnow.” It was only two or three inches, just enough to make the ground white,brbut for a 9-year-old Californian it was as exciting as Christmas day.
There wasn't much more snow in Dan's youth until the familybrmoved to Delaware. That first snow in California may have been memorable, butbrit was the famed President's Day Blizzard of 1979, which occurred just twobrweeks after he and his family moved to the mid-Atlantic that made a lastingbrimpression on the young boy. “The forecasters were only predicting one to threebrinches of snow,” Dan recalls. “But the next morning, my grandfather woke me upbrand told me to look out the window. To my surprise, the snow was still comingbrdown — close to two feet before it was all done.”
The entire week of school was canceled. The disruptivebrimpact of the storm made a mess of daily life and made a major impact on Dan'sbrchosen field of study.
Baffled the forecasters' predictions were so far frombrreality, Dan began to pay closer attention to the television forecasts. Wherebrthe family lived in southern Delaware, they also received Baltimore and Washingtonbrtelevision stations. As a boy, Dan made a routine of watching as many weatherbrforecasts as possible. “I had it down to science, I knew at 6:12 that thisbrperson came on and at 6:14 that person came on and 6:16 another came on,” so hebrcould catch three different forecasts before dinner. Of course, he admits to havingbralways preferred the forecast predicting the most snow.
It just grew from there, in addition to being glued to thebrtelevision forecasts of ABC's Fred Weiss, D.C's Marty Bass and Baltimore's BobbrTurk, he started watching the sky for storms and picking up books on thebrweather. An old saying amongst meteorologists is that they are predisposed tobrdoing the weather — as if they have an extra gene. “Probably 90 percent of thebrmeteorologists I know, they knew when they were in middle school or earlier theybrwanted to do the weather,” Dan explains.
School Ties
Budding meteorologists regularly flock to the campus of PennbrState University, continually ranked at or near the top programs in the country.brIn fact, roughly one out of every four meteorologists has some ties to PennbrState, whether in undergrad or grad school. Close to home, it was a simplebrchoice for Dan, and it didn't hurt that Penn State had a winning tradition inbrfootball. Dan became a rabid collegiate football fan. “My sophomore year they beat the Miami Hurricanes and JimmybrJohnson for a national championship,” he says. “I didn't see them lose abrregular season game until my junior year.”
Southlake's Dan Henry Knows Weather
While in school, Dan knew he wanted to give television a try,brbut given his fear of public speaking, he thought he might not be cut out forbrit. To make up for what he perceived as a shortcoming, Dan immersed himself inbrthe science of weather, taking intensive weather classes and honing his craft untilbrhe placed in the WxChallenge, a National Collegiate Forecasting competition.
Confident in his forecasting abilities, Dan turned hisbrattention his on-camera abilities. “I was petrified to get up and talk in frontbrof groups. That was something that really concerned me as I got older. I knew Ibrwanted to give television a try,” he admits. “There are a lot of naturalbrbroadcasters, but unfortunately, I wasn't one of them.”
He took TV Meteorology his senior year, finally getting in front of thebrcamera, and made the resume tape he used to land that first on-air spot inbrWilmington.
Today, after more than 20 years in the business, he displaysbra well-worn comfort in front of the camera. Today he admits to a verybrconversational style, “I act as if I'm actually sitting in a living room withbrfriends.”
Anything but Typical
Texas winters might be much milder than those he experiencedbrgrowing up, but Dan can still count on the North Texas spring to be anythingbrbut typical for Dan and the team at FOX4. “This time of year, the weatherbrdictates much of what we do,” he explains. “We never leave the weather roombrunattended.” So, he starts his day with reaching out to daytime counterpart,brEvan Andrews, to ensure everything is going smoothly. The two arrange a handoffbrof information just shortly before 3 p.m. From there, Dan dives in to hisbrregular eight-hour shift.
Rolling up his sleeves, he wastes little time preparing forbrhis televised forecasts, the first of which airs at 5 p.m. Including cut-ins,brshorter segments and full-length forecasts, before his day ends around 11 p.m.,brhe'll be on-air for no fewer than 10 segments — even more should the weatherbrturn for the worse.
During the all-important first hour, he starts gatheringbrinformation by reviewing several weather websites, checking the DualbrPolarization Radar (a major improvement over the Doppler Radar system) andbrplugging data into his computer models. Texas weather can turn at any moment,brand during this eventful season, most of Dan's efforts focus more on the short-termbrweather. In keeping with this, he makes sure to go old school, taking the timebrto step outside and look at the sky. Dan says, “The forecasts for days three,brfour and five are important, but this time of year, its all about getting folksbrthrough the next 24 hour period, especially when there is a threat of tornado.”
With the forecast complete, the second hour generallybrconsists of making the most of his on-air time. He prepares graphics tobrcreatively fit the day and week's forecast, adding a dose of personalitybrthrough weather related facts, pop-culture references and information derivedbrfrom social media contact with FOX4 weather watchers. “Most of our weather watchersbrare average viewers who have an appreciation for the weather,” explains Dan.
Just a year ago, a tornado outbreak left thousands acrossbrDFW scrambling for safety. The entire area huddled together for updates frombrDan Henry and his colleagues. On April 3, 2012, 22 confirmed tornadoes ofbrvarying severity touched down throughout North Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Danbrrecalls, “We were on the air virtually non-stop from noon until six p.m. Sixbrhours of wall-to-wall coverage. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, butbrLancaster and Forney were hit very hard.”
Family Time
As exciting as Texas weather is for this storm chaser, itsbrlong days like these that are the hardest for the Henry family. Consistentbrevening hours and spring storm coverage don't always make for stereotypicalbrfamily dinners for Dan, wife Kerry and their children Logan, Brooke and Carys. “Webrdefinitely make the most of our weekends,” he explains. “We like to go forbrfamily walks and bike rides in nearby Bicentennial Park.” An extremely athleticbrand active family, they enjoy ski-trips to Colorado and escapes to visit familybron the East Coast during hot summer months.
Though they enjoy their share of their land-basedbractivities, the Henrys naturally gravitate to the pool. All three children arebraccomplished swimmers with the North Texas Nadadores, and that means plenty ofbrtime together at the Southlake Natatorium. “It all started with Brooke aboutbrfive years ago,” says Dan. “She took an interest in it, and then Logan got tiredbrof watching from the bleachers. Kerry said, ‘You have a choice: You can eitherbrbe bored or you can swim yourself.'” He chose the latter, and then Carys joinedbrtoo. Now the Henrys can be found at the pool 6 days a week. The athleticbrparents never did swim competitively, so it's all new to them. “I used to coachbrLogan in baseball, but now we're there purely as spectators and for support,”brhe explains. “Actually its fun to cheer them on, and Kerry is a very involvedbrparent with the Nadadores”
Family involvement doesn't stop with the Nadadores, thebrHenry family also enjoys giving back to several community organizations. Thebrentire family helps with the GRACE feed-the-children program each summer, andbrDan himself was the emcee for last year's GRACE Gala. All are active members atbrWhite’s Chapel church, where the children serve as acolytes during Sundaybrservices. Perhaps dearest to the Henry girls is their work as ambassadors tobrthe Cook Children’s Bunny and Bears program. In this role, they helped collectbrand distribute more than 1,000 stuffed animals to lift the spirits of thebrhospital’s many young patients.
Settled In
Comfort comes with experience, but Dan's ease in front ofbrthe camera is also a function of the many hours of research and modeling hebrputs into each and every one of his forecasts. He considers himself abrconservative forecaster who looks at as much information as possible beforebrmaking his predictions. “I'm usually conservative over the long range,” hebradmits. “I take my time, use my experience and gut instinct and then keep abrmiddle of the road approach.”
Celebrating 10 years with FOX4 this year, Dan has refinedbrhis form and settled comfortably into the role of chief meteorologist for thebrtop rated news team of North Texas. For the next generation of weathermen andbrwomen, he suggests many of the activities he enjoyed as a boy: keeping abrweather journal, reading plenty of books and installing a rain gauge in thebrback yard. His persistence paid off in a career leading a weather team in the country'sbrfifth largest TV market. It is a dream come true for this Southlake dad, who fellbrin love with the weather when he was just a boy.
Photo Credits: BluDoor Studios and Skipping Stone Studio