Ross Ellet explores the dramatically different climates of Alaska and Hawaii in this engaging presentation on extreme weather and climate diversity. While the two states may seem like opposites, both experience a surprising range of weather patterns that few people fully appreciate.
The talk begins with a look back at the worst cold wave ever recorded in the United States. In January 1971, temperatures in Alaska plunged to minus 80 degrees, just one degree shy of the coldest temperature ever recorded in North America. Decades later, in December 2021, Alaska faced the opposite problem when unusually warm and mild air surged deep into the state’s interior. Three powerful winter storms struck back-to-back, shutting down the region for days. Ellet was there at the time and will share both meteorological data and personal stories from the historic event.
The presentation will also examine the most impactful tropical systems to affect Alaska and Hawaii and revisit the devastating 2023 Maui wildfires, exploring the weather conditions that helped create the deadly firestorm.
Ellet holds the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation, the highest professional certification awarded by the American Meteorological Society. He grew up in northeast Indiana near the town of Albion, where he experienced a wide range of weather, including lake-effect snow, blizzards, ice storms, tornadoes, floods and heat waves. Those experiences sparked his lifelong passion for meteorology.
He later graduated from Purdue University with a degree in meteorology and minors in communications and sociology.
Ellet began his broadcast career in 2005 at WLFI-TV as a weekend meteorologist. Two years later, he accepted a morning meteorologist position in southern West Virginia and was promoted to chief meteorologist just three months later. His career then took him to tornado-prone Fort Smith, where he worked for KHBS/KHOG-TV. Shortly after he arrived, a catastrophic ice storm coated the Ozark Mountains with up to three inches of ice, leaving some communities without power for weeks. During his time there, he also covered flooding and violent tornado outbreaks and received awards for his severe weather coverage and a special report on Arkansas black bears.
Ellet later worked for the Ohio News Network and WBNS-TV before joining 13abc in 2012 as a weekend meteorologist and weather reporter. In 2016, he moved to weekday mornings, where he continues to forecast today.
