HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – You’ll see a new face on News 19 starting October 11th. Our new chief meteorologist has joined the team. We’d like you to meet her. I sat down with Danielle Dozier in the studio to welcome her. She smiled and said, “Thanks, Jerry. I’m excited to be here.”
Danielle will be leading our News 19 weather team. She developed a love of weather at an early age. “You’re exactly right,” she said, “When I was a kid, I always loved weather. I was outside, probably grade school I would imagine, and I would always be out looking at those dark clouds wondering if they were spinning and going to produce a tornado. And growing up in Virginia Beach, we had a lot of tropical systems that came through and so I was always fascinated by those.”
That led her toward a career in meteorology. “Yes, I went to UNC Asheville out in western North Carolina, a beautiful part of the country and I was very fortunate to get a job in tv which is what I knew I wanted to do while I was studying in college and that first job for me was in Abilene, Texas,” she said, “And from there, have worked in Oklahoma City, then Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, so I’ve really experienced all different kinds of weather from large hail events to tornadoes, wildfires, flooding, earthquakes even and so you name it, I feel like I’ve seen it.”
I asked her what fascinated her about the weather. “I think the fact that it’s predictable but unpredictable if that makes any sense,” she said with a smile, “Our job as meteorologists is to try to predict the future, and sometimes it’s not as accurate as we would like it to be because science is not exact. So, we try our best to be as accurate as possible. It’s what I pride myself on. I love working with a team because I feel like we all come together, and we all put our minds together to come up with the best possible forecast. But just knowing as well that science is not exact.”
When she’s not watching the weather, she may be rolling into a lane next to you. But not on the highway. “I love bowling, Jerry,” she said with a huge smile, “I’ve been bowling since I was five years old, that I remember at least. My mom put me in a league when I was five and from that point on, I’ve bowled in a league, minus a couple of years in between. But my highest game is 289 out of 300 so I’ve bowled some pretty big scores and that’s something that I love to do in my free time.” You may see her at a local lane, rolling her light blue Ice bowling ball and wearing a lightning jersey as she looks for the perfect storm in pursuit of a perfect game.
She also loves good food. “I love to bake, and I love to eat out at restaurants, steak places in particular so again, if anybody has any recommendations of great local restaurants,” she said with a laugh, “And I am a huge dessert nut. I love dessert. I love cake. I love chocolate, anything like that. Ice cream! Anything you guys know around town, tell me.”
Danielle and her husband Lucas also love to hit the road. “When we met, he really opened my eyes up to the world of travel and we’ve been so many places around the U.S. and around the world and it’s just really cool to me to be able to go to different countries, go to different states for that matter and experience a different culture and the languages and how people live,” she said, “I’m really fascinated by that.”
And we’re glad she’d landed in North Alabama. “I’m pretty excited about being here and looking forward to all of the different weather extremes that Alabama can experience,” she said. Danielle loves staying connected to our viewers. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
