Viewers ask me all the time about my schedule. I think everyone expects that in order to be on TV at 5:00am I must get up pretty early in the morning. But most are still shocked when I tell them that I get up in the middle of the night. At 2:30am.

It takes about an hour to get myself from bed to the weather center. That gives me from 3:30am to 5:00am to prepare for our 5:00am newscast.

I start that hour and a half by pouring over the weather maps and data that help me to make the forecast. Once it’s ready, I send it to everyone at TMJ4, as well as our radio stations WTMJ and WKTI. I also post it on our todaystmj4.com website and email it to viewers via our MyPersonal 4Cast service. I also prepare the maps that I’ll show on TV, and record a couple presentations for our 24-hour weather channel on Time Warner Cable channel 104.

In between all of those things, I find time to put in my contacts and put on my tie.

It’s a sprint all morning long. There’s no time to chat with co-workers at the coffee maker. “Live at Daybreak” starts at 5:00am whether I’m ready or not. My bosses prefer that I be ready.