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Jonathan Belles

Senior Digital Meteorologist

Jonathan Belles

Jonathan Belles has been a digital meteorologist for weather.com for 10 years. His favorite weather is tropical weather. Read full biography

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Why falling leaves slow commuter trains every fall

'Slippery rail season' is here — give yourself a little extra time to get to work or school.

2m read

Ask a met: Why have weather forecasts become so much more accurate?

Our meteorologist answers all of your deepest weather questions.

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Slippery rail season: Why fall leaves can make your train slide

Slippery rail season is here, and crushed fallen leaves on wet tracks could make trains slide right past their stations. New York's MTA says crushed leaves leave a slick film called pectin on the rails, and damp, windy mornings are the worst. Here's why it happens and when to plan for commute delays.

31s watch

More From Jonathan Belles

Heavy rain, cooler temperatures ahead for Northeast

3m watch

Florida floods kill 2; state of emergency declared

3m read

Ask a met: Do different areas have different criteria for weather watches and warnings?

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Tornadoes have been abundant this month in the Southwest. Here's why.

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How watching the stars can improve your health

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How to find ghost apples, the eerie ice shells left by freezing rain

33s watch

NASA compares this year's super El Niño with 1997, 2015

2m read

What is a subtropical storm, and why should you take them seriously?

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El Niño is at least 250 million years old, this is how we know

4m read

What a historic super El Niño ahead means for your fall and winter

4m read

AI models outperform rivals during Hurricane Isaias' lifespan

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Hurricane Isaias recap: Florida Gulf Coast raked, then Southeast hit

4m read

About Jonathan

Jonathan Belles is a senior digital meteorologist and writer for weather.com. Based out of Atlanta, Jonathan started his career in 2016 at The Weather Company.

Hometown

St. Petersburg, Florida/Horseheads, New York

Educational background

B.S. and M.S. in meteorology from Florida State University

What I do

Write meteorological articles and create graphics

How I got to The Weather Company

My parents will tell you that this interest began before elementary school by watching The Weather Channel for the tropical update on the 50s and big winter storms.

In my own mind, my interest came from Hurricane Charley just over 20 years ago. It was my first hurricane and I could tell it was going to be a big one, but I had no idea how bad hurricanes were, let alone a Category 4. We were in a new house and we were far from prepared. Thankfully, most of Charley went to the south, but we also experienced three other hurricanes that season.

Not long after that, I knew I wanted to pursue meteorology in college. I took the long route by going to St. Petersburg College for three years, then Florida State for an additional five.

In those five years at FSU, I worked at FSU Weather as an on-camera meteorologist, frequent team leader, support staff and fill-in weathercasting teacher. I forecasted and spoke about everything from Florida ice storms to tropical weather and severe weather in the Florida Big Bend region, all while upgrading our graphics system and our broadcast signal to high-definition.

Soon after graduation, I was lucky enough to be picked up as a digital meteorologist here at TWC.

What I love about working for The Weather Company

I love being able to cover global weather and all different kinds of weather. Our ability to do those things hopefully saves lives and helps people plan their day.

Favorite weather areas

Tropical weather

Core weather memory

Moving from upstate New York in November 2003 in the snow to experiencing my first four hurricanes in the following summer in central Florida.

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