Our speaker on January 16, 2026 was Rusty Dawkins, Chief Meteorologist at KLKN TV - Channel 8.
Growing up in Gordon, Nebraska he stated that the weather intrigued him - watching storms roll in and then roll out - it was a form of entertainment. It got him interested in weather.
If you read Rusty's bio you can see what he went through to get to his current position. He graduated from UNL and had his first real job in Wisconsin. He ended up at 10/11 for 5 years, moved to Minnesota for a short while and returned to 10/11 for another 5 years. He got into social media and out of the weather business for a while spending time with a couple of organizations including the Arbor Day Foundation.
Then he got the call to become the Channel 8 chief meteorologist. After returning to Lincoln he also had the opportunity to become the meteorologist for UNL. They wanted to have someone one hand to understand the weather's affect on football games. The biggest concern was lightening - if there was a chance - they would need to clear the stadium. He shared that did happen once and 94,000 booed him. He also helped the team understand the ground temperate, wind speed and direction and how all of that would affect the game.
Rusty's primary message to our club was out weather coverage has changed.
When he started he said he spent the day reviewing the Weather Channel - looking at what was happening and trying to understand what was coming our way.
With the introduction of computers they could review weather models online. They also then had a weather page on the station website. He was charged with regularly updating the data on that page to ensure we had the latest information.
Social media brough a new twist to weather - anyone could post anything. But, it also gave weather stations to post regular updates with links to bring them to the station websites.
Smartphone apps opened a new issue - you don't know where the information is coming from. Are they legitimate meteorologists?
Rusty then shared information about YouTube weather channels. People subscribe to the channels which can be very lucrative for the YouTube channel owner. He shared one channel "Ryan Hall Y'all" which has nearly 3 million subscribers. So the income to this owner can be as much as $1 to $2million per year. And, this owner has added "Y'allBot" which is programming generated by a robot. With that added - and no additional work - he is making another $1 to $2million per year.
This brings into question the future of meteorologists on TV - do kids want to take those physical jobs? Would they - when YouTube shows promise of making millions?
During Rusty's career he has gone from no computer to YouTube. He shared his YouTube channel which we can find at https://www.youtube.com/c/rustywx.
BIO
Rusty Dawkins has had a lifelong obsession with weather. Growing up in the Panhandle of Nebraska, watching storms roll in on the wide-open sky above the Sandhills, prompted him at a young age to want to know more.
Eventually, Rusty attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduated with a degree in meteorology and climatology.
He took his first job in meteorology at WEAU in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, then returned to Lincoln as a local television meteorologist. He went to Minnesota to be chief meteorologist at KAAL-TV, then returned once again to Lincoln as a TV meteorologist.
Recognizing that the industry was changing and that digital media was developing an increasing role, he shifted into that world for a few years to explore it further.
During that time, Rusty maintained his love of weather and filled in at Channel 8 consistently.
Rusty wants to continue to serve his community and once again started watching the skies over Nebraska full time at Channel 8 in 2022.
Rusty lives in Lincoln with his wife, Melanie Dawkins, and their two children. They spend their free time renovating their home and traveling the world!
YouTube: RustyWx