From the Blizzard of '82, to the Great Flood of '93, weather has always been a great fascination of mine and to think that I could actually make a living out of forecasting the weather always intrigued me, too! Therefore, it is of no surprise that I chose to become a meteorologist.

I was born and raised in the St. Louis area and even as a young child, I became cautiously interested in the power of severe weather (while hiding under the covers, of course!). It wasn't until my 7 th grade year in school that I decided to become a meteorologist and once I graduated from Pattonville High School, I was Mizzou bound and ready to learn about the power of Mother Nature. After completing all of the ominous math and physics courses, I graduated from the College of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources at Mizzou with a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology in 2001, as well as obtaining a specialization in severe weather interpretation/forecasting from the National Weather Service/SKYWARN program. I am a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), as well as the National Weather Association (NWA) and have been awarded the prestigious AMS Seal of Approval award for Television Weather Forecasting.

After graduating from MU, I left Columbia briefly, to go to Fayetteville, Arkansas and was a meteorologist at the NBC affiliate there for almost one year. I missed my family and Mid-Missouri so much that I wanted to come "back home" and was hired full-time at KOMU-TV to handle the weekend weather duties and start an in-depth school-weather partnership with Mid-Missouri area schools and school districts. Since then, I have been promoted to the weekday morning and noon meteorologist position and I enjoy waking up with Mid-Missouri each and every morning, providing them with an accurate and informational weather forecast. Besides my duties and responsibilities on-air at KOMU, I also co-teach a Broadcast Meteorology class through the Meteorology Department at the University of Missouri. This provides me with a wonderful opportunity to teach and coach broadcast meteorology students and help them prepare for "meteorology life" outside of Mizzou.

I currently serve as the Vice-President on the School of Natural Resources Alumni Board, and am involved with the College of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources Student Mentoring Program. When not tracking severe weather or forecasting warm and sunny skies for Mid-Missouri, I can be found running, jogging, or playing the piano and organ. I am also an active member of Parkade Baptist Church, where I am the organist, and have been playing the piano and organ since age 4.

I look forward to bringing you the most accurate and precise weather forecast that I can and I welcome any comments and questions you may have. I can be reached at ericaldrich@komu.com.

Thanks for watching KOMU-TV 8, and for making us your number one choice for news and weather coverage YOU can count on!