Even at a young age, Lee Ringer was fascinated by the weather. His interest in meteorology started when a tornado swept through his hometown of Newberry, South Carolina, in 1984. That tornado was part of the Carolinas outbreak that produced 24 tornadoes across South and North Carolina on March 28, 1984. Up until 2011, it was the largest tornado outbreak on record for the Carolinas.
Lee's broadcasting career began at radio station WKDK-AM in his hometown. He worked there while attending high school and college. He graduated with honors from North Carolina State University in Raleigh with a bachelor's degree in meteorology.
His first job in television was at KTRE in Lufkin, Texas. Lee was promoted to chief meteorologist there after working for one year as the weekend meteorologist.
After four years in East Texas, Lee returned home to the Carolinas. He started with Spectrum News in September 2005 as the weekend evening meteorologist and has been the weekday morning meteorologist for the Triangle, Sandhills and coastal North Carolina since 2007.
Here are some five other things you might not know about Lee:
- I love to travel whenever possible and am always planning my next trip. In the past few years, I've visited Ireland, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Thailand and Vietnam.
- I have taken vacations from predicting weather on TV to, well, predict the weather. I've gone on a couple "storm chase vacations" in the Plains. I got to see my first tornado in person on one of these trips several years ago in Kansas.
- I had the opportunity to fly with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds before their scheduled performance in the Wings Over Wayne Air Show in 2011. The pilot of the F-16 put me through a 9G turn (nine times the force of gravity), and I surprisingly didn't get sick or pass out!
- I played the trombone for a couple years in high school.
- I was an Eagle Scout.
Email: Lee.Ringer@charter.com
Twitter: @LeeRingerWX