Wade Hampton

Wade Hampton joined the KPLC 7Stormteam in August of 2005. He comes to KPLC from the cold of Wyoming, having been the Chief Meteorologist for the NBC affiliate KCWY in Casper. Wade is a native of Arcadia, Florida, which is inland south of Tampa, so he is familiar with the heat and humidity that SW Louisiana is known for. Wade is fascinated by hurricanes, especially after the extraordinary 2004 season that brought Hurricane Charley directly through Wade's hometown. So if a storm should threaten, Wade wants to give the best coverage possible to SW Louisiana. However, he, along with the rest of the 7Stormteam, hopes we never experience another hurricane here in Southwest Louisiana. Let's keep our fingers crossed! Wade has known since he was in elementary school that he wanted to be a TV meteorologist. As a young child, he enjoyed watching the local weather, especially Roy Leep at WTVT in Tampa. Growing up in Southwest Florida, Wade experienced sea breeze thunderstorms almost every afternoon, sometimes from the east coast and sometimes from the west coast. Almost every day brought thunderstorms. It was because of these daily thunderstorms that he loved watching the weather on WTVT. Wade graduated in May of 2003 from Florida State University in Tallahassee with a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology, with minors in Math and Physics. Wade began his career by interning at the FOX affiliate in Tampa, WTVT. Interning at WTVT allowed Wade to work at the station he grew up watching which was very exciting. In addition, Wade also interned at the CBS affiliate, WCTV, in Tallahassee. While at FSU Wade co-founded a student-run live weather show called "FSU Weather." It was a 30-minute television show with many student meteorologists doing weather segments for the 30-minute show. Wade is happy to be in SWLA as this also brings him much closer to home. Wade has a brother and sister who are twins. His sister, Sheri, wants to be a lawyer; which Wade says would be good for her because she can argue with the best of them! His brother, Steven, is hoping to be an electrical lineman for a power company in Florida. Wade's dad, Chuck, runs his own auto repair business. Before going to FSU, Wade even helped his dad by turning a few wrenches himself. And his mother is a school bus driver and teaching assistant at a school for disabled children, which she really loves doing. In his spare time, Wade loves to hunt and fish. One reason he chose to come to KPLC was so that he could be in Southwest Louisiana and enjoy all the outdoor activities. He is a football fan as well and you may find him cheering for his FSU Seminoles and the Miami Dolphins. Wade also loves history, especially the Civil War. He enjoys reading and learning about the history of that period. In addition, Wade is fascinated with his own family history and continues to research his genealogical heritage.