Meteorology Program Alumni
Below are the stories of some of our alumni.
Mikel Hannah-Harding
Ever since he was young, Mikel’s passion for weather and its effect on society has been undeniable. He grew up watching the Weather Channel like it was his favorite cartoon and received gifts such as telescopes and weather picture books for Christmas as a youth. All his life he knew that becoming a meteorologist is what he wanted to do and is excited to turn his dreams into a reality here in the CSRA.
Mikel Hannah-Harding is an alumnus of the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø located in ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, SC, and graduated with a BA in Meteorology and a BA in Physics. During his time at CofC, Mikel had the opportunity to explore his meteorological interests by conducting multiple research studies on the Climatology and Variability of Tropical Cyclones impacting Wilmington, NC, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, SC, Savannah, GA, Jacksonville, FL, and Cape Canaveral, FL over the past 165 years with Dr. Lee Lindner from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. He also gained experience through two internships with ABC News 4 in Mt. Pleasant, SC and Live 5 News in West Ashley, SC.
Mikel joined the Tau Eta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. during his time at CofC where he served as Vice-President for one year and President for two years. He also was active on campus as a member of the "Mentoring Matters" program, Student Ambassadors, the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Gospel Choir, and the REACH Mentorship Program. Mikel has been employed as a meteorologist for WRDW News 12/NBC 26 in Augusta, GA since June 2020 and spends his free time talking to local youth at various schools and youth empowerment organizations in the greater Augusta-Aiken Area. He is apart of the WRDW First Alert Weather Team who won an award from the Georgia Association of Broadcasters in 2022 for "Best Team Weather Coverage" in the small market TV division. An encouraging quote that he lives by is, “In order to succeed, your desire for success must be greater than your fear of failure.”
Hannah Rahner
Hannah graduated from the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in December 2021 and landed her first job in her hometown of Myrtle Beach, SC in January 2022. She is beyond excited to start my career at home! The weather has always been a deep passion of hers, and her first weather memory is of Hurricane Charley. Since then, learning and exploring the weather is what she has been chasing.
In college, she was able to major in meteorology with a concentration in operational meteorology as well as major in physics. She double minored in mathematics and environmental and sustainability studies.
Hannah Rahner joined the News13 team in January 2022 as the weekend evening meteorologist.
She was born in Myrtle Beach and has never moved outside of Horry County. She graduated from Scholars Academy with dual-enrollment with Coastal Carolina University. Hannah graduated from Socastee High School in 2018.
Hannah attended the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø with a major in meteorology, and later declared a concentration in operational meteorology with a double major in physics. Hannah also minored in math and environmental and sustainability studies. She graduated from ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in December 2021 and accepted a job at News13.
Grace Lowe
Weather has always played a huge role in Grace’s life. Growing up, she used to sit outside and watch the sky for hours, trying to figure out when a storm might blow in. Now that love for weather has brought her right here at News 2!
Grace is from Spartanburg, SC, where her adoration for weather began! A tornado blew through her
neighborhood when she was 8 and left a strong impression – of both terror and awe. That early
experience first sparked Lowe’s fascination with weather, and it’s only grown from there.
Grace is ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø graduate with degrees in Meteorology and Physics with a minor in Communications. Grace was very involved with the Meteorology program at the college and has helped build the program’s first broadcast room where students can work on their forecasting skills. At CofC she managed the student voice of the College, CisternYard Media from her freshman year to her senior year. Grace was a summer intern at WCBD, and she immediately felt at home here in the Lowcountry. Learning from the best of the best (Rob Fowler of course) she was “baptized by fire” during the night of
Tropical Storm Elsa, which brought 8 tornado warnings for the Lowcountry. Grace was there helping the
entire time. She might’ve been a little terrified, but she knew that at that moment- this is the job for her!
She is so excited to be staying in ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø and keeping you informed on your weekend weather!
When she’s not staring at the sky, Grace enjoys spending time with her dog Kiwi (named after a song by
her favorite singer Harry Styles), reading any book that you will recommend, watching movies, and
playing show tunes on the piano!
Trevor Gibbs
Trevor Gibbs is a media personality serving as a First Alert Meteorologist for Action News Jax. He forecasts Saturday and Sunday mornings on CBS47 and FOX30. He joined the First Alert Weather Team in October 2022. Previously, he was a Meteorologist at WFXG Fox 54.
Upon completing his high school education, Trevor joined the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in 2015 and graduated in 2019 with degrees in Meteorology and Physics and a minor in Communication from the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Gibbs is a South Carolina Lowcountry native, growing up in Summerville. After graduating from the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, he spent some time in the Hudson Valley of New York providing forecasts and routes for ships across the globe. In 2020, he returned south and was a weekday morning meteorologist for WFXG in Augusta, Georgia for their five-hour morning show.
In his free time, Gibbs is an avid practitioner of yoga and became a certified yoga teacher (RYT-200) in college. He finds yoga an exceptional way to counteract the high demands life can have. He loves being by the water, taking scenic bike rides, and spending quality time with family and friends.
Cameron Self
In 1989, Hurricane Hugo hit the South Carolina Coast and roared inland to Charlotte, NC where Cameron lived with his parents at the time. A mere toddler during the storm, Hugo and its aftermath left a passion for meteorology that led him to the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. After graduating with a B.S. in Physics with a Concentration in Meteorology in 2011, he went on to earn a Masters degree from UNC Charlotte and then began his career working with StormGeo in Houston for 8 years as a tropical meteorologist. After that, Cameron became a meteorologist for the National Weather Service office for Houston-Galveston where he creates and disseminates publicly available weather forecasts, advisories, watches, and warnings for Southeast Texas and the adjacent Gulf waters.
His primary duty at StormGeo was global tropical cyclone prediction for a variety of clientele ranging from the energy sector to tech, retail, insurance companies, finance, and more. He also did medium and long range monsoon outlooks for clientele in India, and provided marine weather support during non-tropical events, with a particular focus on sea fog for various ship channels along the Gulf Coast.
In addition to his primary duties forecasting weather at the NWS for the greater Houston area, he has become very involved in the marine weather program. Recently, he has been deploying to the Coast Guard Sector in Houston to provide weather support to the Coast Guard Command Center, Vessel Traffic Services, and local law enforcement marine units. One of his focuses is to improve local forecast products and weather support for marine partners so they can make well informed decision that help the general public during times of hazardous marine weather. Improving the operations of partners also has significant economic implications since the Houston Warning Area contains some of our nation's most economically vital ports and ship channels.
Tim Kent
Tim Kent graduated with a B.S. in Physics with a concentration in meteorology from the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in 2004, before completing his M.S. in Meteorology from NC State University in 2008. He has been a forecaster for Surfline/Wavetrak Inc. since 2019. As an operational forecaster, he spends his days analysing observations and computer model guidance, to synthesize understandable and actionable surf reports and forecasts for Surfline users, with a special focus on coastal low pressure systems, and subseasonal forecasts. Prior to his work with Surfline/Wavetrak Inc. he was a coastal wind forecaster for WeatherFlow-Tempest Inc. and as a surf forecaster for Stormsurf. He lives in Kitty Hawk, N.C. with his wife and two daughters.