Making The Move to Weather
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Stacia Willson is a jack of all trades at Tegna owned KENS (San Antonio).
She has been seen by viewers anchoring newscasts both on weekends and weekdays, reporting in the morning, delivering traffic reports and, most recently, giving viewers forecasts at noon.
Yes, she was doing the weather and that is what she sees in her future.
Willson is well on her way to being just that and acquiring the title she’s long dreamed of: meteorologist.
“The industry is changing. And I thought I needed to evolve, too,” Willson told the San Antonio Express-News. “I always was interested in the weather but thought it was like thinking about being president — beyond my reach.”
Her passion for weather began early on, while growing up in Dallas. “I was a lifeguard,” she recalled. She said it was amazing sometimes to witness, from her perch, the dramatic changes in North Texas.
“You’d be sitting on the stand and it would be a beautiful day, with the sun shining brightly. Then all of a sudden a huge thunderstorm would roll in. Watching the sky part like that was fascinating.”
“I had felt for a while … frustrated. I wanted to move forward in my career. But I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “Then it hit me one morning. I could do the weather. I love talking about the weather.”
Her first step was taking meteorology certification courses online in 2015 from Mississippi State. While working, she kept at her studies. By year’s end, she should be finished with her final online studies at Penn State.
“Then I can be called a meteorologist,” she said.
In the meantime, she knew she had to become comfortable with “the wall” — aka green-screen maps. To that end, she moved from noon anchor to traffic anchor in the mornings.
Once certified, Willson hopes she’ll also be asked to fill in on weekends and weekdays, whenever needed.
“If you would have told me five years ago, you’re going to be doing weather at KENS, I would have laughed,” she said. “I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”
