NBC Washington meteorologist Doug Kammerer calls kids during live tornado coverage

From Tiktok to Twitter, NBC Washington chief meteorologist Doug Kammerer gained national attention for a caring call to his kids during a tornado warning.

“I’m tracking this so closely now,” Kammerer said during Thursday’s heavy storm. “This is going to go right over my house.”



Kammerer took some time to tell his son to get his younger sibling and wait in the basement while the storm passed overhead.

“You there, buddy?” he said. “All right, hey, man, I want you to get down in the basement. We got a tornado warning.”

Our news partners at NBC Washington shared the content on their Instagram in the moments after the EF0 tornado passed through nearby Tysons, Virginia.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by NBC4 Washington (@nbcwashington)

NBC Washington’s Doug Kammerer, along with the whole of Storm Team4 helped cover the storm’s path throughout Thursday night.

“This was a scary moment for me,” he told NBC Today. “As I am zooming in on the radar, I noticed my house is right in the path of the tornado. My kids were home alone and I knew they would not be paying attention to the warning. As I was live on air, I was debating in my head if I should call them while I was on TV and I soon realized I had to make that call. I had to protect my kids.”

Ivy Lyons

Ivy Lyons is a digital journalist for WTOP.com. Since 2018, they have worked on Capitol Hill, at NBC News in Washington, and with WJLA in Washington.

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