Luke Dorris joined the Local 10 Weather Authority just in time for Hurricane Irma in 2017.
A native of the St. Louis area, Luke originally began college studying his other passion -- cars.
Luke enrolled in college to study automotive engineering and landed a part-time job in a beer distribution warehouse, where he operated a forklift to load beer trucks after classes. It was here that his whole life changed.
He was working an exceptionally hot summer evening in the warehouse when a storm blew in and began raining, then hailing so hard that drivers from the nearby state highway pulled into the parking lot to ride out the storm. The awning on the front of the building blew off and landed on one of the vehicles.
The aluminum-sided warehouse made an awful creak and then partially blew down. Luke thought he was getting hit by a tornado, but he later found out it was a "microburst," or severe straight-line winds in excess of 90 mph.
Luke, fascinated as much as he was scared, transferred to the University of Oklahoma, where he received a Bachelor of Science in meteorology and chased a few storms when he could.
He also was fortunate enough to intern with Gary England, Michael Armstrong and the weather team at KWTV in Oklahoma City. (If you have seen the opening scene of the movie "Twister," then watch for Gary on the TV in the old farmhouse. He's a great guy, Luke says).
Luke moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he eventually became the chief meteorologist at KLKN. During his time there, he covered many tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and snow storms. He also achieved the certified broadcast meteorologist designation from the American Meteorological Society, which is the highest certification available to broadcast meteorologists.
