How KCCI's Jason Sydejko starts his day
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Photo: Courtesy of Jason Sydejko
Jason Sydejko's first year as KCCI's chief meteorologist has been anything but boring: 2024 already brought a freezing caucus season, floods and a record 122 tornadoes.
Driving the news: Following nearly a decade at the station and many 1:30am wake-up alarms, Sydejko recently celebrated his first anniversary as chief meteorologist and a more normal evening anchor schedule.
How it started: Sydejko remembers his childhood fascination with severe storms — pressing his face against his home's glass windows, "trying to see something cool," despite his parents' protests.
- That fascination with meteorology never left him, even as he took a non-linear career path.
State of play: After studying geography, environmental studies and math during undergrad in Duluth, Minnesota, Sydejko applied to study meteorology in graduate school and got denied on his first round.
- After feeling burnt out from academia, he spent three years working.
- But when the company he worked for started to go under, he decided to apply for meteorology graduate school again. And this time, he got into the University of Mississippi.
What they're saying: "It just honestly changed the whole course of my life," Sydejko says. "I felt like I was finally back on track with what I always wanted to do."
Here's how Sydejko starts his day:
⏰ Wake up: 6:30-7am.
🍳 Breakfast: A "Just Egg" sandwich and energy drinks like a zero-sugar Monster, Nuun tablet or something from Hyper.
📚 What he's reading: National Weather Service's forecast discussion, emails from colleagues and headlines from Apple News.
- He also does Wordle everyday.
💡 The big picture: As climate change occurs and severe weather happens more frequently, Sydejko tells Axios it puts "more of a fire under me."
- "We have already seen more of these events and stronger severe weather events," he says.
- "We're going to continue to play an important role in people's safety and getting the word out in time."