South Florida, say hello to your newest TV weatherman: He’s no stranger to Florida’s hurricanes
Miami, get reintroduced to Ivan Cabrera.
He’s the new chief meteorologist at CBS4, which is a Miami Herald media partner, back in his hometown.
Cabrera is coming from New Mexico station KOB 4 and Telemundo based in Albuquerque. The awardwinning journalist also spent 10 years with CNN, where he reported on multiple hurricanes, including, of course, several striking his home state.
We have a feeling the Cuba native will be quite busy in the gig, since we’re only in July and hurricane season blows through the end of November.
“For so many years, I’ve covered storms from a distance,” he said from his new Doral office. “It’ll be good to be right here, where I can literally look out the window at the parking lot. This is the time to be here.”
It’s been a long journey since coming to the United States on the Mariel boatlift at the age of 7. First stop: New Jersey, then the family settled in Hialeah (dad’s still lives in the area).
Cabrera attended José
Marti Middle School and graduated from New World School of the Arts before heading off to Florida State University in Tallahassee.
Though Cabrera is “thrilled” to be back in the Magic City nest, re-entry has been a big (and sweat-filled) transition.
“I was in the desert for three years, so we’re talking relative humidity of five percent to 100,” he joked. “I’m driving people crazy with the A/C. I just need it cooler, essentially to dry things up. I had never experienced humidity that low.”
Any dramatic-weather predictions thus far? (Not that we’re planning on putting our shutters up yet or anything.)
“I always say: A major hurricane is one that threatens where you live. It doesn’t have to be a monster Cat 4 or 5. Even a tropical storm could flood us out or slow us down by dumping a ton of rain. I take every storm seriously. It only takes one. Andrew [in 1992] was a prime example.”
On Cabrera’s Instagram, with the appropriate handle @stormy.ivan, the media personality told his fans about the big move with a picture of his CBS4 employee badge. He duly ended his post with Mr. 305 (aka Pitbull’s) signature phrase: “Dale!”