Wes Hohenstein is the chief meteorologist at CBS 17 and brings central North Carolina the latest forecast weeknights at 4, 5, 5:30, 6, and 11.
He has covered the biggest weather events this state has produced, from the tornado outbreak in April 2011, to countless hurricanes and winter storms.
He joined CBS 17 in 2006, but it was an eighth-grade earth science weather project that started his broadcast meteorology career.
Wes earned his meteorology degree from Saint Louis University, home of the Billikens. Not many know what a Billiken is, but think of those little troll dolls you had as a kid, just not as cute.
Actually, a Billiken is a mythical good-luck figure.
Aside from providing a daily forecast on TV, Wes has visited hundreds of schools over the years, sharing his weather knowledge and television stories with North Carolina students.
He is most proud of the daily 3° Guarantee where every time the forecast is correct within three degrees, a pre-selected charity gets $100. Since starting in 2014, nearly 100 different local charities have received more than $200,000.
Before getting to North Carolina as fast as he could, Wes worked in Lafayette, Louisiana, Salt Lake City, Houston, and Tucson, Arizona.
Wes holds the American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval and has won an Associated Press award for best weathercast, in addition to an Emmy award for the weather lore and silly antics in the “Weather Facts” promotional series.
Wes was born in Illinois, but grew up in St. Louis and therefore loves St. Louis Cardinals baseball.
He is a huge college basketball fan too, but refuses to commit publicly to any Triangle team.
He enjoys skiing in the winter, playing golf in the summer and exploring the Tar Heel state from the mountains to the coast.
Wes lives in the Raleigh area with his wife and kids, including Finley the dog and Tigger the cat.
Feel free to drop Wes an email anytime at wes@cbs17.com or you can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
