NEW ORLEANS — Payton Malone has known he wanted to be a meteorologist since the very young age of six.
“I remember growing up and always glued to the TV, wondering what the weather was going to do. I was terrified of t-storms, and I believe that fear turned into an obsession.”
Malone grew up in Tornado Alley, a couple hours northwest of Dallas in the small northwest Texas town of Archer City.
After leaving Archer City, Malone ventured to Norman, Oklahoma. He studied meteorology and geography before graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 2017.
Malone is no stranger to Southeast Louisiana’s wild weather. Before arriving at WWL-TV, he was a meteorologist on the Mississippi Gulf Coast for 2.5 years. In his time he covered countless tornadoes, a hurricane, tropical storm and even a few winter weather events.
“My time on the Gulf Coast created a new obsession in my weather world, and that’s the tropics. My first hurricane was Nate. I realized after living on the Gulf Coast for a few years that tropical forecasting is where my passion is right now. I’m more than thrilled I get to continue to grow my tropical forecasting skills here in Southeast Louisiana.”
Outside of weather, Malone spends a lot of time in the kitchen baking. He is also a huge coffee fan and is always on the search for the best coffee in New Orleans.
If you have any recommendations or you’d like to get in touch with Payton, you can follow him on Facebook/ Twitter at @paytonmalonewx or Instagram at @paytoncmalone. He can also be reached via email at pmalone@wwltv.com.
