A native Texan, Lon grew up in Belton, some 40 miles south of Waco and 60 miles north of Austin, and vividly recalls the day of the 1953 tornado at Waco, a disaster in which 114 people died and almost 600 people were injured. Inspired by a fourth grade teacher who taught world geography with a weather perspective, he was drawn into a lifetime pursuit of meteorology, but not without forays into other fields. Lon earned a law degree from S.M.U. in Dallas, worked as a police legal advisor for two years, then was a felony criminal prosecutor for 24 years in Bell County. More or less simultaneously, he was also a volunteer firefighter in Belton, and was assistant fire chief for 20 years. Lon never abandoned meteorology as an intense interest, and in 1997, he was actively tracking the severe storms that moved from near Waco to west of Austin, producing numerous tornadoes. He was in Jarrell when the F-5 tornado killed 27 people there. Several months later, he accepted a part-time position as weekend meteorologist at KWTX-TV (Waco), and after 3 1/2 years, he retired from prosecution and worked fulltime at KWTX until he retired in 2011. He earned a Certificate in Broadcast Meteorologist from Mississippi State University, the N.W.A.. (Television) Certificate of Approval, and the A.M.S. Certified Broadcast Meteorologist. He has presented at many weather conferences on severe storms and tornadoes, and in 2004, published a peer-reviewed article in the A.M.S. journal Weather and Forecasting.
You can follow Lon on Twitter: @Centxwx