New Vlog - "Tornado Outbreak Felt Inevitable"

It's been a good fall. Mild weather lasting into December meant plenty of time outdoors walking in the woods and enjoying the backyard basketball hoop.

Work travel resumed for me for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic took over and shut things down. During the winter and early spring months I often travel the country speaking at ag/farmer meetings while farmers are out of the fields making their plans for the next growing season.

On December 8-9 I flew to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to speak at the South Dakota Soybean Association's annual meeting. I arrived home late the night of the 9th and woke up at home on the 10th in an increasingly volatile severe weather environment.

Severe storms and tornadoes struck central Illinois the night of the 10th, but I wasn't in the field for this one. Due to the overnight/after dark nature, the very fast storm motions, and the low visibility that this particular setup would offer with rain-wrapped tornadoes and a moisture laded, foggy, poor viewing conditions. Instead, I thought that I could be the most help broadcasting live severe weather coverage for WILL AM 580. We decided that it would be nice to have me in studio so that we could seamlessly provide continuous coverage while storms were in the area.

News and Public Affairs Director Reginald Hardwick and I provided continuous live coverage from roughly 8 PM until 11:30 PM.