For Mt Laurel meteorologist, community roots are key

For every minute that Ashley Gann is on the air at CBS 42 reporting the weather, about an hour’s worth of work goes into that report. 

It’s the part of the job that may not be seen but that the Mt Laurel resident, who was promoted to chief meteorologist at the WIAT station in May, most enjoys.

“I do it myself, and it’s probably the part that I take the most pride in,” Gann said. “When I’m giving you the forecast, you can know that came straight from this little noggin here.”

Gann is the only female chief meteorologist in Birmingham’s broadcast news market. She said as far as CBS 42’s research can show, she might be the first woman to hold the role in the city. 

While she may be treading new ground, Gann said her goal as chief meteorologist is “getting people to see beyond the TV personality” and seeing her as a person rooted in her community.

“My job is about serving the community, and the best way to do that is to get integrated in that community,” she said. “We’ve dug into Birmingham and love our time here.”

Gann and her husband Derek have been married for six years and moved to Mt Laurel from Montgomery four years ago. Since her evening newscasts give Gann an unusual schedule, she said she uses her free daytime hours to take her kids, Reagan and D.C., to the community pool or on a hike.

Reporting the weather can sometimes feel like a 24/7 gig — Gann has had to leave family vacations to report on severe weather — but she has become an expert in juggling personal and professional priorities.

“There is nothing normal about anybody in broadcasting, I’ll tell you that much,” Gann said. “You’re intentional with the time that you’ve got.”

That intentionality extends to community outreach as well. Meteorologists are commonly asked to visit classrooms to talk with kids, but Gann said she wants to reach out to more business and community leadership groups in Birmingham, as well.

She wants to encourage young girls to pursue careers in science and technology, just as she did. Gann works with several local schools, including the Hoover GEMS (Girls Engaging in Math and Science), to meet middle school students and show them that careers in those fields are attainable.

“That’s when they say girls are most likely to leave the science academics, not because of aptitude but because of strictly peer pressure,” Gann said.

She was about the same age when she came home from space camp and told her mother her newfound career plans.

“I love science, and I get in trouble for talking all the time, so I want to be a broadcast meteorologist,” Gann said.

Gann said she stuck with her 12-year-old self’s ambitions, but there was a point when she could have been intimidated into giving up meteorology. When she walked into her first math class at Auburn University, Gann said, she was the only woman and she felt like she might not belong.

“That could have scared me away,” she said.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Auburn in 2005 and got her master’s degree in geosciences, concentrating in meteorology, in 2007.

“If the whole weather thing doesn’t work out, I guess I could fall back on being a rocket scientist,” Gann joked.

When she thinks about career goals, Gann said she thinks about service, both on and off the air. It’s a mindset that was created by the April 27, 2011, tornadoes. Gann was covering the storms in Montgomery and, as she watched footage of a deadly tornado passing through Tuscaloosa, she said she had to step off-screen to collect herself.

“It felt like an eternity on television, you know, five quiet seconds while all of this was happening,” Gann said.

They were five important seconds.

“Up to that point, I felt like my career was predicated on educating the public. My goal was just to — I love science, and I wanted to teach people about science, and I got to do that every day when people turned on the TV,” Gann said. “When that day happened, I realized my job was so much more about service. I think it really changed my mindset.”

Gann carries those dual goals of education and service with her in her new role as chief meteorologist. While the stakes aren’t always as critical as the 2011 tornadoes — “one of my big challenges is really helping people understand in three minutes what ‘scattered showers’ means,” she said — Gann said she wants to be a name people trust in everyday and severe weather situations.

“Every day that weather happens, we get a little smarter about it,” Gann said.