![]() ![]() I wasn't very good with the graphics system at all, but I was able to go on the air. I interned in Oklahoma City when I was down there and so I was very familiar with severe weather coverage and how they handled it. I want to say it was the next week that we had a tornado event in North Platte. The week after I graduated is when I started out there on the air. TW: I was very fortunate, very lucky in that regard. ![]() I literally graduated from Madison and the very next day, with the U-Haul, went out to North Platte, Nebraska. TW: At the smallest NBC affiliate in the country. "What are you talking about? You've been going to Oklahoma." I want to go to Madison." He, at the time, thought I was just crazy. I looked at my dad and I said, "You know, I made a decision. My dad and I went to lunch and we were discussing the logistics of getting back down there and all that sort of a thing for my junior year. In fact, I didn't decide until a week before I was supposed to go back to Oklahoma. I kind of knew that was a better fit for me, so I applied and transferred after my sophomore year. Growing up in Mequon, I always knew about Madison. While I made great friends and still have great friends from there, I knew pretty quickly that it didn't feel right to me. I'd always wear the sweatshirts and the hats. At Homestead High School, I was big Oklahoma fan. OMC: You went to two different colleges, right? It went from that to fast forward 20 years later and now I'm a storm chaser, so I see the other side of it. I ran to the neighbors' house and left the door open. I remember at the age of 10, in Mequon, there was a tornado warning and I freaked out. Over time it turned from a fear into a fascination. I was always scared of thunderstorms, as many little kids are. Three years old, which, how do you even remember? I can remember watching Vince Condella, Paul Joseph on TV. I get the sense it was like that with you, too. OMC: A lot of meteorologists I've talked to said they wanted to be doing weather on TV or radio since they were little kids. And maybe that fed into my passion for weather. ![]() I think that it may have made my parents almost a little more passionate, maybe. But I don't think it really affected me a whole lot. ![]() I didn't really notice a whole lot of stuff. OMC: Did that change the way you were raised? Were your parents more protective? I just got contacts and glasses several years ago. OMC: Do you have any side effects from this? I was born blind and had a 5 percent chance of living. If you pick hospital A, there's no NICU and he's going to die." Something had gone wrong in the pregnancy and the doctor had said, "There's hospital A and hospital B. and given a 5 percent chance of survival. I just confirmed the facts with my mom to make sure I had it right. Joseph's Hospital here in Milwaukee – three and a half months early. It's actually kind of wild in fact, I don't know if my coworkers know this: I was born in 1980 at St. : Tell me the Tom Wachs story You’re a Mequon guy, right? We caught up with Wachs to talk tornados, technology, and what it was like to dress up as a clown at his last job. After working in several smaller markets, he returned to his home last year, and even in a tough, demanding job, he's loving every minute of it. Mequon native Tom Wachs knew he wanted to be a meteorologist a young age. ![]()
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