Los Alamos Native Craig Herrera joins FOX News Media’s 24/7 Streaming Weather Service. Courtesy photo
By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bjgordon@ladailypost.com
It’s a long way from rural northern New Mexico to New York City but Craig Herrera embraces adventure wherever he goes. Herrera was hired this summer by FOX News Media’s 24/7 ad-supported streaming weather service that launches on Monday, Oct. 25.
A five time local Emmy-award winning meteorologist, Herrera joins FOX Weather as a co-anchor of the platform’s key programming blocks.
Born in Los Alamos and raised in Española by parents who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Herrera has fond memories of his home state.
“I miss it and I love it,” he said. “I remember being outside in Los Alamos during monsoon season with thunderstorms dancing all around me. I used to go to Los Alamos every weekend with my grandmother so she could get her hair done and I’d spend the time feeding the ducks at Ashley Pond.”
Journalism and science were passions for Herrera from an early age.
“I grew up reading headlines,” he said. “I was an intern at Los Alamos National Laboratory for two years with the team working on the Alexis Satellite. I got to meet Astronaut Sally Ride when she came to the Lab.”
After high school, Herrera attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and majored in mass communications. He was very active on campus. Herrera was a UNM Ambassador, showing future students and families around the campus, Vice-President of Sigma Phi Epsilon, first-runner up Homecoming King in 1994 and a UNM Cheerleader.
“Broadcast news is such a rush,” Herrera said. “It sparks energy inside me. I loved that, but I was having doubts that hard news was for me. A friend suggested meteorology might be a better fit. It’s perfect for me and I love it.”
Herrera received his certificate in Broadcast Meteorology from the University of Mississippi. He is an American Meteorology Society (AMS) sealed meteorologist.
Herrera seems to be enthusiastic about nearly everything, a trait he learned from his mom. He built a career in California. Herrera first spent three years in Fresno then moved to the weekday morning news team at San Francisco’s KNTV-TV (NBC), on the weather reporting team at KCBS-TV, then to Los Angeles and San Diego’s KGTV-TV (ABC).
His most recent job before FOX, was as Seattle’s KING-TV (NBC) meteorologist. Herrera is a Pacific Coast weather expert having covered every major weather event spanning San Diego to Seattle.
“FOX Weather is a brand new start up,” Herrera said. “It’s so exciting to be working on something from the ground up. The team is from all over the country and is very diverse. The channel is innovative. We’ll be covering stories people are talking about. We have a lot of autonomy and we’re doing our own thing.”
The state-of-the-art Command Center in NYC is a dedicated area on set where meteorologists will be able to showcase detailed weather conditions and provide to the minute accuracy for any extreme weather event, featuring 12 weather graphic systems, radar maps and multiple live feeds from across the country, Herrera said.
FOX Weather will be available via foxweather.com as well as on the FOX Weather app for IOS and Android devices, which are currently available to “pre-order”. The app and site are ad-supported and free for users.
Typically for him, Herrera is excited about living in New York, but New Mexico will always be home, he said.
He’s settled in with his husband Tom, two dogs and a cat. Cycling and volunteering with animals remain favorite pastimes.
“I’m such a proud New Mexican,” Herrera said. “I want to set an example for other kids from small New Mexico towns. Go for your dreams and dream big!”
