TV meteorologist weathers storm to return to hometown 

I didn't want to be behind a computer running models and things like that all day. I wanted to be able to incorporate that aspect, but also maybe chat it up with my coworkers a little more often and be out in the community a little bit more.”

Krystal Ortiz, Fox10 meteorologist

Passing knowledge on 

Krystal Ortiz was active in engaging students from elementary age to high school in El Paso and Philadelphia in learning about science and meteorology. In El Paso, it was near monthly Weather Academy events. In Philadelphia, she produced a Weather Education Day at Citizens Bank Park, where many schools came to watch station meteorologists do experiments on the field. The students got to stay for a Phillies game afterward. She hopes she eventually can do something similar to those activities in Phoenix. 

“I feel like there's — not as much today, but still maybe — that vibe of or thought amongst kids (that) if you like science or math, you're a nerd or whatever,” Ortiz said. And I don't think there's anything nerdy about tons of science jobs out there and STEM jobs. … There's just so much cool stuff out there, and especially for the young girls, because there should be more women in these industries than there are. And there's so many bright girls out there that I hope can see someone like me or many women scientists out there and be like, ‘I want to do that, too.’”  

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By Tom Blodgett
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Twitter: @sp_blodgett

Krystal Ortiz had goals coming out of college at Arizona State University. Equipped with degrees in meteorology-climatology and journalism, Ortiz quickly rose through the broadcast ranks to meet the goals, forecasting and reporting weather at a local station in a top market, NBC10 in Philadelphia.  

But having done that for six years, the pull of home brought Ortiz, 32, back to Phoenix and Fox 10 in July. Ortiz, who was raised in Gilbert, does weather reporting Saturday through Wednesday on the station. 

“I've been doing this 10 years, and when I graduated from college the goal was, ‘I want to get to the top and I want to forecast all the weather and I want to experience it all,’” Ortiz said. “And I feel like I did that, and I loved it.  

“But as I've gotten older, I've realized I want to love the job I'm doing, but I also want to love the life I live outside of my job. And I'm not saying I didn't love it out there. I did. I really enjoyed Philly, but I was away from all my family.” 

The roots of her success are in Gilbert. As Krystal Klei — she started using her married name professionally when she returned to Phoenix — Ortiz hung out downtown where her grandfather owned the Copper Coin Saloon. Her parents always made sure she and her brother attended the Gilbert Days Parade and Rodeo. 

“Every summer was the best time to go swimming, which I loved,” she said about growing up. “I got great storms, which I loved. It was my birthday (in August), the best season.” 

She attended Val Vista Lake Elementary School, Highland Junior High and Highland High School. It was at Highland High where her love of thunderstorms turned into something more.  

Ortiz excelled in math and science, and after completing a meteorology unit in a science class, she found herself disappointed it was over and wanting to learn more. Her teacher, Dan Provonsha, encouraged her to think about it as a career path. 

“Then after that I was like, ‘yeah, this is it,’” she said. “And I never looked back.” 

She enrolled as a meteorology major, helped her professor with research and loved the field, but realized as the “chatter box” in a class full of quiet science students, she needed a little more. 

“I didn't want to be behind a computer running models and things like that all day,” she said. “I wanted to be able to incorporate that aspect, but also maybe chat it up with my coworkers a little more often and be out in the community a little bit more.” 

It was her talkative side, she said, that convinced her to add journalism as a second major. She excelled there, doing weather for Cronkite News and two broadcast internships at ABC15.  

When she graduated, she got a job doing weekend weather plus three weekdays doing news in El Paso that evolved after a year into weather full time. She also met her future husband, Josh, through a co-worker there.0 

In 2016, as it was time to move up in her career, she had her agent look for an opportunity in a bigger market. 

“I said, ‘Give me a city that has a lot of weather, I want the chaos,’” Ortiz said. “And she sure found that.” 

Philadelphia represented a leap from the No. 93 TV market to the No. 4 market. And the city did not lack for weather. One winter month early in her tenure, the area had four nor’easters in one month with the accompanying snow, ice and power outages. 

Ortiz said forecasting there was a challenge, partly because of the wide area they covered: From the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania, though Philadelphia, to all of Delaware with the bay and beaches and up to south Jersey and the Jersey shore. That meant forecasting for mountains, rivers and oceans and dealing with storms of every type. 

“It was interesting to work somewhere where you had a lot of the opposite challenges that you have in the Southwest,” she said. “Too much rain, things like that. Tropical storms instead of a monsoon season. I got to really challenge myself to stuff I had learned in college but hadn't really dealt with when I was in Texas, which I enjoyed. It was a challenge for sure. There was a learning curve.” 

It was important work, too, as people’s lives and property were at stake. She was helped along by the station’s chief meteorologist, Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz, a Philly TV legend over four decades who retired as Ortiz was leaving the station. Ortiz calls him one of the most brilliant people she knows. 

“He was one of those people where if you were willing to ask and say ‘let's sit down and go over this. I forecast this, why didn't it happen that way? I'm not seeing the indicators from the maps and the charts and the models, why didn't this happen?’ He would really sit down with me and break it down,” she said. “And I think as strong of a meteorologist as I felt like I was when I got there, (I am) so much stronger because of him in the six years I was there.” 

She said it could be thrilling to cover the big storms, with anticipated snowstorms requiring dayslong preparation to get the reporting right. Wall-to-wall coverage of an event could mean going on at 4 in the morning and staying on until 2 in the afternoon with minimal breaks. 

“The only not-thrilling part was when you finished and you were exhausted and then ... you had to shovel your car out,” she said. “And then you were like, ‘OK, I don't like this. No, no, no.’” 

Moving to Phoenix to be home meant a step back in market size to No. 11 in the country, but also a drastic change in the weather. Ortiz said it is a running joke for people to say coming to Arizona means not having any weather to report on. But she said it is not true. 

“The monsoon was quite a summer for us, and we forecast for almost all Arizona,” she said. “I'm forecasting for snow up in Flag(staff) and for how much Sunrise (Ski Resort) is going to get, and if they're going to be able to open for their season. So I feel like I'm still enjoying forecasting. Is it as active as Philly weather? Not necessarily, no. But I'm not bored.” 

Ortiz said the transition has been made easier by how welcoming her new Fox10 colleagues have been. She said she even loves working Saturdays and Sundays because of how fun the crew is. And, of course, she is back close to family, her best friend and even friends from high school who are starting to have babies. 

“I'm back home,” she said. “I'm doing exactly what I want to do. I have great coworkers. I mean, I feel very lucky.” 

Tom Blodgett
Senior News Editor | Gilbert
@sp_blodgett

tblodgett@iniusa.org

Meet Tom
Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.

Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.

Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism. 

Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.  

Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).