Four Inane Questions with KCTV5 Chief Meteorologist Luke Dorris

Luke Dorris. // Courtesy photo

In case you haven’t seen the 8,664,001,399 promos that aired before/during/after last Sunday’s big game, KCTV5 has a new chief meteorologist. (We swear he’s scored more airtime than Taylor, Brittany, and Mama Kelce combined lately.) 

After a six-year stint forecasting in Southern Florida, Luke Dorris has traded hurricanes for tornadoes and golf shirts for parkas. Fun fact: he arrived during last month’s particularly brutal cold snap. Coincidence? We think not.  

But never fear, dear Midwesterners. Before his Miami TV gig, Dorris spent seven years at KLKN in Lincoln, Nebraska, so he’s thoroughly up to speed on our whackadoo weather patterns. 

The St. Louis native tells us KC already feels like home, as he and his wife both have deep roots in the area. And the AMA-certified meteorologist boasts that KC is the perfect place to raise his three kiddos. 

We caught up with Dorris while he was putting the finishing touches on the day’s forecast. And we’re fairly certain he wasn’t a fan of us trying on co-anchor Carolyn Long’s sassy lipstick while we waited. Bless. 

The Pitch: What’s the most obscure meteorological term on earth? I feel like it’s “dew point,” yes?

Luke Dorris: I’d argue it’s “haboob.” Betcha never heard that! These are dust storms, where dust gets kicked up by a front moving through or a strong storm. They get them in the desert southwest, North Africa, and the Middle East. Spooky-looking things. A wall of dust up to 60 miles wide and a mile tall, with severe storm-level winds. 

They’re also a surefire way to make students laugh at school talks.

Given any scenario, what animal/creature would most likely eat you? 

No singular one, but a bunch of crows. It’s right in their name! A flock of them is called a “murder.” They’re very smart and can even use tools. 

I watched a video of one using a stick to pick insects from a log. Who could defeat such intelligence? They are also ill-tempered, can bomb from the sky, and peck at your face. Quite the foe, those birds.

If you were a coin/currency, what coin/currency would you be?

Definitely a doubloon. At least that would be the most entertaining currency to be.

What’s the over/under that a tsunami could hit Kansas City?

I moved to KC for one reason and one reason alone—tsunami evasion. It’s just sound planning to move to the middle of the country for this reason. Did you know that the highest-ever (recorded) tsunami was over 1,700 feet high? Get me as far away from that as possible. I’ll take the under.

Bonus 5th Question: When was the last time you overslept?

I have identical twin 19-month-old girls and a 4-year-old boy. So, 4.1 years ago? 

I just started to taste the sweet promise of sleep when my boy was around 2—then my beautiful girls came along. Waking up at 9 a.m. in a panic to get to work sounds wonderful!