30 Years with Dave Brown: Changes in Weather - Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

In the 30 years that Dave Brown has been with Action News 5, he has seen his share of big weather stories.
 
When a tornado hit Memphis just south of Graceland, Dave Brown was there. "I went out there and did a live broadcast in the middle of the evening on channel 5, standing in the middle of Elvis Presley Boulevard."
 
He remembers the 1994 ice storm that shut down the Mid-South for weeks. "It poured down rain, there were thunderstorms and that rain, that ice fell and as it fell it froze on trees on powerlines."
 
Dave Brown has tracked some of the most severe weather ever to hit the Mid-South. Devastating storms like the tornados that hit Gibson and Dyer Counties in April, 2006. And of course summer storm 2003. "It's an event that's somewhat rare around here, called a derecho. and this one really intensified when it hit the river. And as it blew across Shelby County it blew down trees and there was very little structural damage from the wind. Most of the damage was because it blew whole trees into power lines, into cars and it was a huge mess here for weeks."
 
Dave Brown has seen and done a lot at Action News 5.
 
In the 1980s he used a magnet board to track the weather.

In the 90s it was Storm Search 5.
 
A lot has changed in the past 30 years. "When I walked into Channel 5 in May of 1977 there was one computer in this entire building. One. I have 17 in my weather office now."
 
Computers that are integral to forecasting, and technology that advances all the time. It can be a challenge to keep up. "We have certainly been able to do it and the adding of our Pinpoint 5 StormTrack Doppler was a huge leap forward in technology."
 
Keeping Dave Brown--and the rest of the Pinpoint Five Weather Team ahead of the curve and ready to move into the next 30 years.