TONY LAUBACH, METEOROLOGIST
CURRICULUM VITAE / PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Email: tonylaubach.wx@gmail.com • Web: tonylaubach.net • Socials: @tonylaubachwx
“Severe weather demands clarity, experience, and calm under pressure. My work as a broadcast meteorologist and national weather correspondent focuses on delivering accurate, real-time information from the field, helping audiences understand what’s happening and why it matters.”
PROFESSIONAL BROADCAST & FIELD EXPERIENCE
AccuWeather Network
Meteorologist, National Weather Correspondent, MMJ, Storm Chaser
05/2021 – Present
Remote / Field Ops (Denver, Colorado)
- Reported on a wide variety of breaking weather events across the United States, including tornadoes, hurricanes, winter weather, wildfires, and extreme atmospheric phenomena.
- Unofficially aired the network’s first live tornado event in August 2021 and have since aired over a dozen live tornado intercepts, including a live standup in front of a Colorado tornado in August 2023 and 30-minutes of wall-to-wall live coverage during a high-profile Iowa tornado outbreak in April 2024.
- Alerted in-house Meteorologists early morning to a rapidly growing severe weather/tornado threat in Houston (January 2023), directing field reporters ahead of an EF-3 impact.
- Operated as an independent mobile one-man-band (MMJ)—logistics, shooting, live transmission, editing, and field reporting under high-stress conditions and immediate deadlines.
- Responsible for independent mesoscale analysis, nowcasting, and tactical navigation to intercept unfolding events safely.
- Appeared as regular featured severe weather expert and analyst across linear and digital broadcasts.
- Scripted, edited, voice-tracked, and produced broadcast packages and national specials.
- Made on-air debut in June 2021 after a tornado touched down near my Colorado home within 90 minutes of closing.
- Significantly broadened AccuWeather’s digital high-resolution severe weather archive.
FEATURED ACCUWEATHER BROADCAST REELS & COVERAGE
KAKE-TV
Broadcast Meteorologist, Storm Chaser, Weather Reporter
03/2018 - 5/2021
Wichita, Kansas
- Served as the market’s only full-time, professional storm-chasing meteorologist; mobile MMJ delivering exclusive live severe weather coverage across the entire western two-thirds of Kansas under extreme deadline pressure via bonded cellular and FTP.
- Nominated for an Emmy Award—the third meteorologist in Wichita TV history to receive this distinction.
- Created and produced the weekly “Storm Saga Sunday” franchise exploring severe weather science and chasing history, airing Sunday mornings and evenings.
- Helped establish the “Friday Football Blitz,” presenting live sports weather hits from stadiums, shooting game action, and editing highlights for the 10 PM wrap show.
- Primary weekend morning weather anchor; routinely anchored weekday mornings and weekend evenings utilizing WSI Max graphics software.
- Engineered an in-home studio infrastructure during 2020 COVID protocols to deliver seamless wall-to-wall live broadcasts remotely.
- Conducted extensive community outreach and public speaking appearances representing the station.
FEATURED KAKE-TV SAMPLES & AIRCHECKS
WSIL News 3
Weather Warrior, Broadcast Meteorologist, Photographer, Sports
7/2013 - 3/2018
Carterville, Illinois
- Originated and produced the station’s premier seasonal storm chasing series, “Weather Warrior Wednesday,” covering regional severe weather for eight consecutive weeks each spring.
- First designated field storm chaser in station history; served as primary go-to field meteorologist during tornadoes, river flooding, and blizzards across southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and southeast Missouri.
- Tracked live and broadcast the earliest verified ground imagery during the major February 2017 tornado outbreak.
- Prepared graphical forecasts and delivered regular live weekend morning studio weathercasts.
- Traveled extensively as photojournalist covering NCAA and high school athletics under strict broadcast deadlines.
- Demonstrated wide newsroom utility handling breaking news reporting, field audio/video production, and associate producing.
FEATURED WSIL NEWS 3 SAMPLES
KMGH 7News
Storm Chaser, Weather Producer
8/2007 - 2/2013
Denver, Colorado
- Primary severe weather videographer and featured talent in the Emmy award-winning television special, “Tracking Twisters”.
- Captured exclusive Front Range and Plains severe weather footage for digital and live broadcast distribution.
- Engineered and coded the station website’s custom ski and snow condition portal from scratch.
- Developed specialized in-house web apps to accelerate weather forecasting workflow for daily newscasts.
- Assisted Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson with daily operational severe weather forecasting.
EDUCATION & ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
GRADUATED 05/2016 • CARBONDALE, IL
Master of Science: Professional Media & Media Management
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
- Degree Emphasis in New Media / Electronic Journalism
- Graduate Teaching Assistant: TV News Field Production (2 Semesters)
GRADUATED 05/2009 • DENVER, CO
Bachelor of Science: Meteorology & Technical Communication
Metropolitan State University of Denver
- Interactive Media Concentration
- Minor in Mathematics
NATIONAL TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS & BROADCAST CREDITS
“In the Eye of the Storm” (Nightmare in May) — Discovery Channel (2026)
- Featured Meteorologist and Storm Chaser for the historic Grinnell, Iowa tornado intercept.
“Storm Stories: The Next Chapter” (Twin Twisters) — The Weather Channel (2019)
- Featured Meteorologist and Storm Chaser discussing the Pilger, Nebraska twin tornado intercept.
“Daily Planet” (Forces of Nature) — Discovery Channel Canada (2013)
- Featured Field Meteorologist.
“Tracking Twisters” — KMGH 7News Denver (2011)
- Emmy Award-winning television special.
- One of several featured broadcast meteorologists, field producer, and principal videographer.
“Storm Chasers” (Seasons 3, 4, 5) — Discovery Channel (2009–2011)
- Featured Meteorologist and In-Situ Researcher with Team TWISTEX alongside Tim Samaras.
- Principal tactical videographer for Team TWISTEX across three full broadcast seasons.
“Into the Tornado” — National Geographic Channel (2008)
- Featured Severe Storm Researcher with TWISTEX.
“Twister Sisters” (Episode 6) — Women’s Entertainment (2008)
- Featured Independent Storm Chaser.
OPERATIONAL METEOROLOGY & FIELD TECHNICAL SKILLS
- Forecasting & Field Documentation: Over 25 years of professional and academic convective forecasting, including 20+ years navigating the Great Plains and Midwest. Documented 400+ career tornadoes across 500,000+ incident-free field driving miles.
- In-Situ Severe Storm Research: Mesonet Team Leader with TWISTEX; responsible for thermodynamic sampling in the rear flank downdraft (RFD) within immediate tornado proximity. Co-authored and contributed empirical datasets to multiple AMS peer-reviewed publications.
- Commercial ENG Stringer Operations: Over two decades editing and transmitting breaking weather video packages via FTP and cloud distribution. Generated over $250K in commercial video sales (2013–2020) in competitive media markets.
- Meteorological Software & Radar Tools: Expert proficiency with WSI Max, Baron Lynx, Gibson Ridge (GRLevelX / GRAnalyst), RadarOmega, RadarScope, AWIPS II, and raw numerical model analysis.
- Broadcast Digital & Audience Engagement: Community of 80,000+ followers across professional social platforms. Curate and maintain an active digital YouTube production archive with 800+ original video presentations.
