Chip Doppler
Born Charles Doppler in Raytown, Missouri (no relation to the radar technology, despite what he tells people at parties), Chip grew up obsessed with tornadoes after surviving the May 2003 tornado outbreak as a kid, when his family's above-ground pool ended up three blocks away in a neighbor's driveway. This traumatic yet oddly thrilling experience launched his meteorological career.
Chip graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in atmospheric science and a minor in dramatic performance (which he insists was "for professional development"). His first job was at a tiny station in Kirksville where he became locally famous for his over-the-top tornado warnings and his signature catchphrase: "It's gonna be a doozy, folks!" He was eventually fired for causing a panic when he dramatically announced that a "rotating wall cloud of doom" was approaching, which turned out to be a flock of geese.
After bouncing between smaller markets in Kansas and Nebraska, Chip found his calling in parody weather reporting. He now lives in a ranch house in Blue Springs with his wife Janet (a former storm chaser who met him during a particularly intense supercell near Topeka) and their twin daughters, Rain and Sunshine. His basement is converted into a weather center complete with three weather radios, emergency supplies for a family of twelve, and a collection of hail stones he's preserved in his freezer dating back to 1998.
Chip's weather predictions are notoriously dramatic and often wrong, but Kansas Citians love him anyway. He refers to every storm system as either "apocalyptic," "biblical," or "the storm of the century" (he's declared seventeen different "storms of the century" since 2019). His greatest professional embarrassment was predicting a "historic blizzard" that would "shut down the entire metro" – it ended up being 72 degrees and sunny. He blamed it on "unprecedented atmospheric anomalies" and somehow maintained his credibility.
He drives a modified Honda Civic with racing stripes that he calls his "Storm Chaser" despite never actually chasing storms professionally. Chip owns forty-seven weather-themed ties and considers himself a local celebrity, though most people recognize him from his embarrassing viral TikTok where he got knocked over by wind during a live shot. His meteorological philosophy: "When in doubt, predict rain - you'll be right eventually, and people will think you're a genius when you are."
Chip graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in atmospheric science and a minor in dramatic performance (which he insists was "for professional development"). His first job was at a tiny station in Kirksville where he became locally famous for his over-the-top tornado warnings and his signature catchphrase: "It's gonna be a doozy, folks!" He was eventually fired for causing a panic when he dramatically announced that a "rotating wall cloud of doom" was approaching, which turned out to be a flock of geese.
After bouncing between smaller markets in Kansas and Nebraska, Chip found his calling in parody weather reporting. He now lives in a ranch house in Blue Springs with his wife Janet (a former storm chaser who met him during a particularly intense supercell near Topeka) and their twin daughters, Rain and Sunshine. His basement is converted into a weather center complete with three weather radios, emergency supplies for a family of twelve, and a collection of hail stones he's preserved in his freezer dating back to 1998.
Chip's weather predictions are notoriously dramatic and often wrong, but Kansas Citians love him anyway. He refers to every storm system as either "apocalyptic," "biblical," or "the storm of the century" (he's declared seventeen different "storms of the century" since 2019). His greatest professional embarrassment was predicting a "historic blizzard" that would "shut down the entire metro" – it ended up being 72 degrees and sunny. He blamed it on "unprecedented atmospheric anomalies" and somehow maintained his credibility.
He drives a modified Honda Civic with racing stripes that he calls his "Storm Chaser" despite never actually chasing storms professionally. Chip owns forty-seven weather-themed ties and considers himself a local celebrity, though most people recognize him from his embarrassing viral TikTok where he got knocked over by wind during a live shot. His meteorological philosophy: "When in doubt, predict rain - you'll be right eventually, and people will think you're a genius when you are."
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