Joe Fitzwater is a West Virginia native from Clay County who has been passionate about weather in the Mountain State and surrounding Appalachian region since he was five years old.
After graduating from college in 2016, Joe began work at WOWK-TV 13 in nearby Charleston. He became weekend meteorologist there in 2018 after working behind the scenes for a couple of years and remained there until moving down to this area in July 2022!
He has been a part of several significant weather events in the region over the last twenty-five years, including being personally impacted by the 2016 flooding and enduring powerless days during the historic 2012 derecho, which only further intensified his passion for forecasting in this area. He is currently working on a book chronicling the historic flooding that took place.
When Joe’s not working on your forecast, analyzing a cloud field or researching historic Appalachian storms, you’ll likely encounter him running around the region as he sets his goal of logging 1,000 running miles annually. He also loves waterfalls and has a waterfall inventory website for the Mountain State that he regularly updates, which you can view here. Joe loves nature in general and enjoys harvesting wild mushrooms and learning about the local environment.
Joe is always looking for ways to make the weather forecast easier to understand and fun for the viewer. If you have ideas for him, send him an email at JFitzwater@nexstar.tv.
He is always working hard in the StormTracker 59 Weather Lab and is excited to be serving you!
