Carly Smith moved back to Texas to join 3News First Edition as a Meteorologist in January of 2022. She grew up in Mansfield, Texas, which is about 20 minutes south of where the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers play in Arlington.
Carly is a proud Red Raider and may be seen supporting Texas Tech Athletics. She received an Electronic Media and Communications Degree and an Atmospheric Science Minor from Texas Tech University. She was a proud member of the Texas Tech Pom Squad and the Texas Tech Wakeboard Team. She also has a Bachelor of Science Degree with a concentration in meteorology from Mississippi State University.
Carly's interest in weather sparked at a young age while having to seek shelter from a tornado in March of 2000. A tornado from that event damaged skyscrapers in downtown Fort Worth. Her passion really grew when she moved to Lubbock. In the wide open spaces of West Texas, she was able to watch thunderstorms from start to finish.
Her first job was forecasting for KKCO (NBC) and KJCT (ABC) in Grand Junction, Colorado. It was sunny 90% of the time, but she covered mountain snow and rock slides. She moved to Wichita Falls, Texas, to gain experience forecasting severe weather and tornadoes at KAUZ (CBS). She broadened her forecasting experience to include several winter storms at WDTN (NBC) in Dayton, Ohio. In 2019, she helped lead the Miami Valley through a tornado outbreak that produced 15 tornadoes in one night. Now she is looking forward to the challenge of hurricane season and spending time on the beach or local nature parks when the weather is nice. In her free time, she enjoys running, cycling, and catching up on sleep.
You can follow Carly's Coastal Bend adventures and keep an eye on the weather on Twitter @CarlySmithWX, Instagram, @CarlySmithWX, and Facebook, Carly Smith WX. She also loves seeing your weather pics and sharing them on TV.
