• Rob Perillo – Chief Meteorologist for KATC-TV3

  • Aug 16 2024
  • Length: 1 hr and 4 mins
  • Podcast

Rob Perillo – Chief Meteorologist for KATC-TV3

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  • Summary

  • Rob Perillo has decades of experience in forecasting Acadiana’s weather and has tracked hundreds of tropical storms and hurricanes during his career. He celebrated 20 years at KATC this January and is one of the most beloved meteorologists in the country, particularly well-known for his expertise in covering hurricanes and severe weather events. Last year, Rob Perillo extended his contract with KATC for another five years. He's pictured here in November 2023 celebrating the occasion. Rob has enjoyed Lafayette since moving here 36 years ago when he was recruited by KLFY. Married with two children, he enjoys exercising every day for an hour, either riding his bike (on Lafayette's roads!) or swimming. His children are both artists and live in Lafayette; he expressed his joy in being able to be present while supporting Joe and Olivia in their endeavors. He has been with KATC since 2004. A native of New York, Rob Perillo became interested in thunderstorm activity as a young boy, four or five years old. His family had just moved out of the Bronx into the suburbs and a severe thunderstorm rolled through. He remembers how scary it was, but it triggered his interest in learning more about the weather. "Fear grew less, and curiosity grew more. By the time I was in third grade, I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist", says Rob. During that third grade year, Rob built a kite for a project and while he called the endeavor a 'big flop,' he wanted to know more about what creates the wind and how we can use it. He started buying weather books written for school-age children and they are still with him in the KATC weather room today. When he was in sixth grade, there was a snowstorm forecastedfor the Northeastern U. S. Meteorologists were projecting the snow would turn into rain, but Rob had a different feeling about it. He told his friends...."No, we'll just have snow. 1 1/2 feet." Well, the storm produced two feet of snow and school was cancelled for the rest of the week. Rob said, "I was the school hero when we returned to school on Monday." His intuition had been right on. Always interested in science, since his days of watching Jacques Cousteau on television, Rob earned a degree in Meteorology (with an emphasis on Math) from the State University of New York in Oswego in 1983. He selected that school not only for its meteorology program, but because it had the highest amount of snow in New York averaging 144 inches of snow per year. Rob began his career managing research at the State University of New York Research Foundation, while also serving as an Emergency Planning Meteorologist for several nuclear power plants in Upstate New York. He developed emergency procedures in case of nuclear leakage. He then moved to Houston and served as an Aviation Forecaster for Air Routing International, and a Marine and Industrial Meteorologist for Wilkens Weather Technologies, in Houston, Texas. Rob Perillo had never thought about television as a career but a friend at Wilkins Weather Technologies encouraged him to make a tape and apply for positions. A year later, in 1988, KLFY reached out to him. He had the opportunity to work with greats such as Maria Placer, Dick Faurot, and Jim Baronet. Rob joined KATC in 2004, when he was offered a fifteen-year contract, a feat unheard of in television circles. Becoming a tv meteorologist was a reach for Rob, as he was "confident in my forecasting skills, but a bit anxious about talking in front of other people. But you learn if you're a master of your information, it will be okay." One thing he did have to work on was conquering his New York accent to deliver the news in a way that was more readily accepted locally. Rob is passionate about meteorology and studies trends in climate and weather. About 16 to 17 years ago, he became aware that warming trends were coming upon us worldwide and he wanted to know how that impacted hurricanes.
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