GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - As Hurricane Isaac makes its way through the Gulf Coast, some Minnesotans are not just watching comfortably from their living rooms.
"(We're) incredibly busy," said WeatherNation meteorologist Susie Martin.
Martin is one of 12 meteorologists who are part of the 24-hour national weather channel forecasting Hurricane Isaac for people down south.
"Were definitely popping up on television stations across the country," said Martin.
Martin and her fellow meteorologist each do dozens of weathercasts a day.
"I almost feel like I'm there," she said of the Gulf Coast. "The technology now a days, we have web cams, we're connecting with people."
WeatherNation started four years ago by well known meteorologist Paul Douglas.
"We are providing 24 hour meteorology teaming with KARE 11," he said of WeatherNation which is on digital channel 11.2.
Douglas says three WeatherNation reporters are down in the Gulf Coast reporting on the storm.
"We have affiliates in New Orleans, we have affiliates in Montgomery. We're up in about 12 million homes in 22 markets," said Douglas.
Forecasting for people like Rob Powell who lives in Maple Grove but is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana helping his parents prepare for the storm.
"We've learned that you cannot be too prepared," Powell said. "It will be a tropical storm by the time it hits here, but you're still talking about a 70 mile an hour wind and that's a sustained wind."
Through SKYPE, he showed KARE 11 around his parents' house and the proverbial calm before the storm, which is expected to hit Baton Rouge Wednesday morning.
"I was out early today, you cannot find any ice, most of the gas stations have gotten rid of most of their gas, and the batteries are off the shelves," he said.
Powell estimates he has been through 10 hurricanes.
"And this is probably the slowest moving one I've ever seen," he said.
And meteorologists, even ones in Excelsior, are on alert.
"Apparently there is an appetite for weather," said Douglas.
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