The Weather Channel Digital Content Team

Jan Childs

Jan Childs is a reporter and staff writer for weather.com.

Hometown

Bradenton Beach, Florida

Educational Background

B.S. in Social Sciences from Florida State University

What I Do

Staff Writer

How I Got To The Weather Company

I was in sixth grade when I noticed my local weekly newspaper favored the “other” middle school over the one I attended. So I wrote a letter to the editor, and was promptly hired to take photos and write a weekly school news column. I’ve been a journalist ever since.

I covered my first hurricane, Opal, for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1995. I’ve written for multiple publications and websites, including The Washington Post, Stars & Stripes and Tampa Bay Times, and my work has taken me to countries like the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, East Timor, Albania and Macedonia.

I’ve also lived around the U.S. and the world, including in Hawaii, Japan, Korea, Germany (three times!) and Canada.

A reporter and writer at weather.com since March 2019, my passions are breaking news, telling people’s stories and sharing the expertise of the amazing meteorologists on our staff.

What I Love About Working for The Weather Company

I’m honored to do work I love every day, with some of the smartest people on the planet.

Favorite Weather Areas

Hurricanes

Favorite Core Weather Memory

The Great Blizzard of ‘78. My mom and I were sleeping in an upstairs bedroom at my grandma’s house in New Albany, Indiana, and part of the roof collapsed on us in the middle of the night.