Recently Matt Brode met with Bear Essential Young Reporters during a Zoom meeting. For those who don’t know, Matt Brode is the chief meteorologist for News 4 Tucson. He talked to us about how he became interested in weather and about different types of weather that we experience in Arizona.

He shared that our monsoons last year were very dry and we had very little rain, but this year is one of our wettest monsoons ever. We learned that most of the rain that occurs during monsoon season comes to Arizona from the Gulf of Mexico. The majority of the rain we received this year has been during the evening hours.

Brode said that when it comes to weather, people undervalue the value of looking out the window to see what it looks like outside. He does use many tools to help him predict weather including maps, computers, and weather charts. Brode told us that predicting the weather is a challenging job, but one he enjoys.