On the night of March 14, meteorologist Steve Templeton had to do something he’s never done before — evacuate the studio from which he was broadcasting because of severe weather.
“It wasn’t a plan we practiced, but it was a plan on paper,” Templeton told St. Louis on the Air. “I've never had to do that, and hopefully I never have to do it again.”
Templeton, the chief meteorologist for KMOV First Alert 4, was broadcasting from the TV station’s Maryland Heights studio.
“Here's what I'm going to do,” Templeton told his audience. “I'm going to zoom out a little bit [to] show you what's going on and why we're doing this. There is rotation right here coming at Maryland Heights. It'll take me about a minute to get downstairs, and we'll resume our coverage from our downstairs studio.”
The station never went off the air. In less than two minutes, Templeton was in the more secure, windowless studio where he was again manipulating the on-screen radar to provide updates on the location of tornadoes.
The National Weather Service office in St. Louis would later confirm that 12 tornadoes touched down, ranging from an EF1 to an EF3. The strongest tornado’s max winds topped out at 165 mph.
Thirteen people died across the state of Missouri.
That night amplified the importance of local meteorologists who broadcast lifesaving information. Templeton, one of St. Louis’ most respected meteorologists, holds the prestigious Certified Broadcast Meteorology seal from the American Meteorological Society — the gold standard in the field.
Before moving to St. Louis in March 2006, he worked at television stations in Dubuque and Des Moines, Iowa. It was a homecoming of sorts for the Templeton family because his wife grew up in nearby Nashville, Illinois.
“The first weekend I started on the air here in St Louis, it was trial by fire,” Templeton said. Over three days, about 60 tornadoes broke out over Missouri and Illinois.
Other storms stick out in Templeton’s mind.
There was the derecho in July 2006 that unexpectedly turned toward St. Louis from the northeast. The storm sent fans at Busch Stadium scrambling for cover.
Another impactful and memorable year of tornadoes was 2011. On April 22, an EF4 tornado with max winds of 170 mph became known as the Good Friday tornado. No one died, but it caused extensive damage across the St. Louis area and forced St. Louis Lambert International Airport to close for nearly 24 hours.
“I was on vacation with my wife, who was pregnant, and we had a 1 ½-year-old. She is the best, God bless her, because I just abandoned [my wife] as soon as the storm hit and we knew how bad it was,” he said.
Because the airport closed, Templeton flew to Indianapolis and afterward rented a car to drive back to St. Louis. “Within 24 hours, I was on the air inspecting damage and talking to people who had survived and showing people the meteorological side of the damage from an EF4 tornado,” he said.
Templeton was again surveying other storm damage just days later from the 2011 Super Outbreak. On April 27 alone, more than 220 tornadoes spawned in the south.
Less than a month later, on May 22, 2011, an EF5 tornado killed 158 people in Joplin, Missouri. That disaster continues to influence how Templeton does his job.
“A tornado that had almost a 20-minute lead time — 20 minutes to get to safety — how did we lose 158 people?” he asked. “That had a dramatic impact on me and how I communicate weather, and I’m still trying to learn the science of communication better so nothing like that ever happens should it happen in the St. Louis area.”
Templeton is quick to emphasize that delivering life-saving information is a team effort, involving not only the National Weather Service but also his colleagues at First Alert 4.
“I might get the gratitude because I'm in front of the camera, but man, there was a great, big team effort at KMOV, and I'm so proud of them,” he said. “When it's sunny and 72, you've got a crap app on your phone that you can use that will tell you it's sunny and 72. But when the weather's bad, that's when you need the context and someone explaining it, and hopefully that's what sets us apart from AI and apps — that we can add the context.”
To hear Steve Templeton talk more about his career and meteorology in St. Louis — and answer listener questions — listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
