Ross Janssen, chief meteorologist at KWCH, will speak about Kansas weather, at the Barton County Historical Society, at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 16. Note this is a change of the regular program date. The program is $5 for those over age 16 and free for those under 16 and society members.
As a Kansas native, weather has always been a real passion for Janssen for many different reasons.
Growing up on a family farm and ranch just outside of Geneseo, it was easy to see how weather affected almost every aspect of agriculture and how important it was for us to know what kind of weather was on the horizon. Janssen started attending storm spotter training classes with his dad while he was still in middle school because he wanted to learn more about thunderstorms.
In high school, he started interning at KWCH in hopes of learning more about weather and forecasting, and to see firsthand what the broadcast world included. With the help of a charitable foundation in Ellsworth, Janssen was able to install a weather station in the high school so that other students could watch the weather change throughout the day.
He attended the University of Kansas and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Atmospheric Science. His broadcast career started at 19 years of age at Channel 6 in Lawrence, where he had the opportunity to work as both the morning meteorologist and as a Chief for about two years. Janssen has done some fill-in work at WIBW in Topeka and then moved to Wichita in 2004 to work at KWCH. He earned the National Weather Association Seal of Approval in 2004 and received the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation in 2006 from the American Meteorological Society.
Janssen doesn’t have a great deal of spare time, but when possible, he loves mowing and landscaping. He also loves traveling back home to help on the family farm and ranch. You will also see his beautiful corgi May on the air in the evenings.
The Barton County Historical Society is located at 85 S. U.S. 281, Great Bend, just south of the river bridge. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Memberships may be purchased the evening of the program.
