New WTAE meteorologist is ready to reconnect with Pittsburgh weather
A decade-plus in the Deep South did nothing to ruin Brian Hutton Jr.’s appreciation for a Western Pennsylvania snowstorm.
“The snow is unique to the area and something that people love and hate,” the Johnstown, Pa., native told the Post-Gazette. “You love it at first and when it’s March and it’s still snowing and you’re tired of it. Snow is that one thing from really early on that I’ve been fascinated by.”
Although he’s arriving in Pittsburgh as winter slowly gives way to spring, Hutton will have plenty of time to enjoy the region’s weather now that he’ll soon be joining WTAE-TV as a weekend meteorologist. He starts April 17 to replace Cam Tran, who took a job at WESH-TV in Orlando, Fla.
Securing a meteorology gig at a hometown station is a big deal for Hutton and his wife, Jenny, a Monroeville native whom he met while earning his meteorology degree at California University of Pennsylvania.
“Western Pennsylvania is truly home for both of us,” he said. “Being gone for 12 years, starting our new family and coming home to be around our family is really a dream come true.”
Hutton was an Air Force “brat” whose family moved around a lot until finally settling in Johnstown, where his grandparents lived, when he was in second grade. Always fascinated by the weather, he would park himself in front of the Weather Channel for hours as a kid.
He was in the Conemaugh Valley School District through high school before going to school at Cal U. He moved south to work on his master’s degree in broadcast
meteorology at Mississippi State University. His grandfather was an iron worker, and his mother still works at the post office. He said their blue-collar spirit set an example of what he could achieve through hard work.
“No matter what I’m doing, I strive to do the best I can with whatever that is,” Hutton said. “If you put in that work, you’ll be rewarded eventually. I do think Western Pennsylvania had that impact on me.”
His first job in TV news was at a station in Meridian, Miss., where he started as a weekend forecaster while pursuing his master’s degree. After graduation, he switched to morning meteorologist before becoming that station’s chief meteorologist for 6½ years.
Two years ago, Hutton moved to a TV station in Raleigh, N.C. Both jobs gave him the chance to cover hurricanes, tornadoes and the occasional snowstorm that blanketed the South.
The idea of moving home always appealed to him, his wife and their two daughters.
“We never thought Pittsburgh would be the case because all the meteorologists here stay there. When this opportunity opened up, I told my wife, ‘This may be our only chance to go home,’ and everything worked out.”
He reminisced about watching legendary WTAE meteorologist Joe DeNardo while growing up and said he was excited to work alongside Action Weather team members Mike Harvey, Ashley Dougherty and Jeff Verszyla.
Hutton plans to bring some “mountain savvy” to WTAE and believes his news persona will fit in well here.
“I look at a weathercast like we’re sitting down in the living room talking about what the weather is like today,” he said. “It’ll be like the meteorologist sitting down beside you while having your morning coffee. I hope that we can eventually have some inside jokes and some fun along the way.”