Southlake teen tracks storms and area weather conditions

One teenager in Southlake was able to put one of the rainiest months on record to use last month, as he gained experience in what he hopes to do for a profession.

Preston Mainard, 14, was “always fascinated with weather,” and at a young age, he started tracking storms, radar and anything else he could watch.

In second grade, he started a Facebook page for local weather updates. It was hacked, and he started a new one, called “Southlake Weather.” Between it and the Twitter page, more than 1,300 followers see Southlake Weather’s updates.

Last month, when rain soaked North Texas and caused several flooding problems, was Preston’s biggest challenge yet.

“Those storms systems have been testing me to see how fast I can alert people,” he said. “Texas has such a strange weather pattern. Things can change in a heartbeat.”

Preston said he saw a big increase in website traffic during one of the wettest months on record as he tracked the storm systems and some of the flooding that came with it. He covers 21 counties around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, though he is based in Southlake and originally focused on Southlake.

“I still get people asking me, ‘Why are you posting about other counties?’” he said. “My main goal is letting you know what’s happening.”

Preston said he’s not trying to compete with local newscasters, but rather supplement with possibly more and different data he gets from online sources and other computer programs.

“Anybody can do this, but it can be pricey and it takes knowledge to use the programs,” he said.

Preston said at this point, he wants to be a professional meteorologist someday, but he also does some of the lighting work at Gateway Church and he said he could consider pursuing something like that, too.

For now, Preston, a homeschooled student, considers his work as Southlake Weather’s lead forecaster a full-time job, and according to the Southlake Weather website and Facebook page, he’s got a couple of storm chasers and is hiring some part-time forecasters as well.

“We are growing,” the post says, “and in turn we are looking to grow our team!”

For more information, visit www.southlakeweather.com or visit the Southlake Weather pages on Facebook or Twitter.

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 12:48 PM with the headline "Southlake teen tracks storms and area weather conditions."