A young Grande Prairie boy has shared his love of the weather online by becoming the area’s “Weather Kid.”
Jake McKnight, who just wrapped up his Grade 4 year of school, got the weather bug after he had the chance to meet some storm chasers.
“Ever since tornado hunters came to my school, I started learning more and more about weather,” McKnight said. “Then me and my family started the idea of, ‘Hey, maybe we should make weather videos.’”
His family helped him create a Facebook page to host his weather updates, some of which get thousands of views.
“People are pretty happy to see me out there involved in the community at my age,” McKnight said.
“They’re pretty supportive.”
The City of Grande Prairie’s GIS Maps & Services department even donated a map of the city to serve as one of the Weather Kid’s video backdrops.
He also uses the videos to let Grande Prairie residents know where local food trucks are. More recently, McKnight teamed up with one of the food trucks to host a donation drive for the area food bank on July 21 and 22.
It comes as no surprise what McKnight wants to do when he grows up.
“I would like to be a meteorologist,” he said. “So that I can tell the weather every morning, because it’s a very important job.”
Until then, McKnight said he’s spent his time at home through the COVID-19 pandemic “playing video games and telling the weather.”