243: Crystal Egger Podcast

In today’s episode of the ‘Finding Your Summit’ podcast, host Mark Pattison, former NFL Player, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and Mountaineer who has climbed the Seven Summits, talks with guest, Crystal Egger, a Meteorologist who has worked with some fairly big outlets like ‘The Weather Channel’ and ‘KNBC’ in LA. Crystal talks about her journey from a small market in Idaho Falls to going all the way through Denver to ‘The Weather Channel’.

Listen to “EP 243: Cyrstal Egger- Leveraging her broadcasting career on The Weather Channel to starting a weather consulting biz” on Spreaker.

Episode Highlights

• 01:40 – Mark says he never had any guest on the podcast who’s from the weather business or is a Meteorologist.
• 03:10 – Crystal reveals that when she went to Santa Barbara, she wanted to get into communication or marketing—something along those lines.
• 05:10 – Crystal loved that weather is universal, and hence, she started to think more and more about a career in Meteorology.
• 07:20 – Mark inquires about what it was like covering something as horrific as a devastating tornado in Denver, which was the first time Crystal covered a tornado.
• 09:35 – Crystal mentions that during the ‘Greeley, Colorado Tornado’, they were using ‘Viper Radar’ which was such a powerful tool to get high-resolution data of that tornado and track it as it was heading through Greeley.
• 11:21 – Mark asks Crystal about how it feels going from a small market in Idaho Falls to going all the way through Denver and now at ‘The Weather Channel’.
• 13:30 – Crystal shares that she learned a lot when she was at ‘Idaho Falls’ while working with the Hurricane Specialists like Dr. Greg Forbes and Dr. McNab.
• 15:40 – Mark says he advocates and believes in women’s empowerment while helping them in any way he possibly can.
• 18:00 – After the Weather Channel, Crystal came to NBC, Los Angeles—completely motivated by her family, two daughters and Mom. Hence, she didn’t want to do life on the other side of the country in Atlanta, Georgia anymore.
• 19:35 – Crystal states she wanted to move down to San Diego as she didn’t feel like working in this market. She reached her summit in Broadcast Meteorology and thought of doing something else.
• 21:40 – At ‘Monarch Weather’ they also do insurance where they provide climate risk data, do forensic meteorology, investigate the weather, provide reports and testify in court on behalf of the client.
• 24:35 – When Crystal came to San Diego, not only was she working as the Weather and Climate Advisor, but she met somebody who worked in Brand Development and she funded the ‘Sunny Space’ concept to get some of these stories off the ground.
• 26:55 – Mark points out that he started this podcast three years ago about people overcoming adversity and finding a way. He says we all need to be inspired at the end of the day and for him, that is no exception.
• 29:05 – Crystal mentions that she keeps finding her Summit by diversifying her skills because she never thought that she was going to be running a business, and now she is considering getting her MBA as it may work to her advantage.

Three Key Points

1. Crystal shares that a lot of studying meteorology, numbers, statistics, understanding weather models, and the output from those weather models are involved in broadcasting. Also, a lot of Thermodynamics is involved, and that’s where the science aspect comes in. She had to learn so much being in this profession.
2. Giving a forecast is considered On Camera Meteorology (OCM). So you have to do everything from Anchoring to Weather Forecasting. Crystal recalls how the first year they had the ‘Tuscaloosa-Birmingham Tornado’ outbreak was live on the air. ‘Superstorm Sandy’, ‘Japan Quake’ and ‘Tsunami’ happened when she was there. She has covered so many big weather events like ‘Joplin, Missouri’ when she was there on the air.
3. For most of Crystal’s career, she had challenging hours for about 15 years, but having little kids, waking up at two, and just giving your all to the show, takes a lot of mental energy. So, she made the difficult decision to get out of the business completely. She moved to San Diego and got hired by a large international technology company to work as weather and climate advisor.

Tweetable Quotes

“I can’t recall any significant weather events that sparked my interest.” – Crystal Egger

“I always loved math and science. That was my strong point in school.” – Crystal Egger

“How did those equations come together to create a forecast?” – Mark Pattison

“We are in the business of warning people and saving lives and communicating the threat, so it’s very important that you know what you’re talking about.” – Crystal Egger

“The Weather Channel is considered the Mecca for Meteorologists.” – Crystal Egger

“Stepping out of broadcasting has been hard because it’s like this high that you get associating yourself with those people.” – Crystal Egger

“Was it that much of a jump for you to go from point A to point B?” – Mark Pattison

“We do a good job at communicating the threats, so I didn’t see a lot of challenges.” – Crystal Egger

“So we started ‘Monarch Weather’ together three years ago now.” – Crystal Egger

“It takes different bits of inspiration and motivation that others can provide based on what they’ve been through.” – Mark Pattison

“We’re filming a show concept—a show pitch—and a sizzle to go with that.” – Crystal Egger

“If I had just stayed in broadcasting, I wouldn’t have that whole side of me.” – Crystal Egger

 

Resources Mentioned

Crystal Egger: Website | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn

Mark Pattison YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingYourSummitWithMarkPattison/featured