Meet the Mets: AccuWeather's Alexis Masse

As a child, Alexis Masse was actually afraid of storms. Now, she’s a Storm Warning Meteorologist at AccuWeather’s storm warning operations center in Wichita, Kansas. She spent much of her childhood watching the weather reports on television, attempting to teach herself about weather patterns and safety precautions. Alexis realized in high school that geography and weather were her favorite subjects, and that’s when she decided meteorology was the career for her. 

Alexis received her Bachelor of Science at the University of Manitoba in Canada. She was the first Canadian hired at the Wichita location and making her the first Canadian for the whole company. The university was geared toward research and private-sector careers. But when attended the 2018 AMS conference in Austin, Texas, she meet with Marshall Moss, Vice President of Operations Quality and Innovation at AccuWeather, and things changed. Alexis applied to work for AccuWeather and soon realized forecasting severe weather was the perfect career for her. 

As a Storm Warning Meteorologist, she is a shift coordinator, ensuring the overnight shifts run smoothly. She forecasts severe weather every day. Alexis is also the outreach coordinator, creating presentations for all school levels and teaching students about the weather.

Alexis loves forecasting all severe weather, but tornadoes are her favorite. She has excellent pattern recognition skills and loves applying her knowledge of tornado genesis and pattern recognition to find tornadoes in the early stages of development. 

One of her most memorable weather events was the Andover tornado of 2022. Alexis’s sister and her husband were supposed to visit her for the first time since she moved to Wichita four years prior. Severe storms started to develop during the last part of her sister’s journey, and using radar, Alexis guided her along the safest path. Tornado sirens began going off within the hour of their arrival in Wichita.  Her dad, stepmother, sister, and brother-in-law stood outside looking at the clouds as she looked at the radar, unable to find the tornado. After a minute, they walked into the backyard and saw the tornado already on the ground just 5 miles away. It was the first tornado her family had ever seen. It was memorable for her to share that moment with her sister as a “Welcome to Kansas.” 

AccuWeather's specialized technology allows Alexis to send clients more precise and accurate warnings than anyone else. She feels in control of her placement for each storm, and AccuWeather’s technology makes it much easier to determine the exact timing for impacts. The resources, abilities, tools, and resulting warnings are much more advanced than other warning programs and help us create a better client experience.

She used that technology while working a severe weather event on March 3, 2020, that produced numerous tornadoes in Tennessee, including an EF-3 tornado in Nashville and the EF-4 tornado that resulted in 19 fatalities and hundreds of injuries. It was dark and early in the morning, and many people were asleep when the storms developed rapidly, producing several tornadoes across the state. Alexis provided lead time to our clients before many of them touched down. A public warning wasn’t issued as the tornado approached Nashville, and AccuWeather For Business clients were calling in, unsure if they should take cover because a public warning wasn’t issued. AccuWeather For Business was able to keep clients safe because of the additional lead time provided. Alexis feels like her team made a difference and saved lives that day. 

One of the things Alexis likes best about working for AccuWeather is that our team comes from all backgrounds, and she gets to learn from each person and their expertise, which in turn helps her understand the weather every day. Working for AccuWeather For Business also allows her to explore the parts of the weather she considers interesting and make a positive impact on our clients. 

When Alexis is not forecasting severe weather, she’s spending time with her husky and three cats. She also enjoys going on several camping trips, with Arkansas and Colorado having many beautiful options within a short drive from Wichita. She also occasionally gets to chase a storm nearby when the chance presents itself.