Meteorologist calls his kids while on air after realising their home is in tornado's path

A US meteorologist paused a live weather report to call his children after realising their home is in a tornado’s path.

On Thursday night, NBC Washington’s Doug Kammerer was live on air when he realised a tornado was set to go right over his house in the Chevy Chase area.

As he zoomed in on the map to show viewers where the tornado was set to strike, he dialled his son’s phone number.

His son picked up, and Kammerer told him to “get down in the basement… as soon as you can”. He told the children to wait in the basement bedroom for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Turning his attention to the camera after hanging up, Kammerer said: “Gotta warn my kids, because I know what my kids are doing right now, they’re probably online gaming and they’re not seeing this.”

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“So we have a tornado warning, hopefully they saw it on their phones. Many of us got it on our phones.”

He continued his weather report, and a few minutes later the National Weather Service cancelled the tornado warning.

A viewer on Twitter captured the moment, and said Kammerer’s report was a “masterclass” on live broadcasting.

They wrote: “45 minutes straight with no hyperbole, useful information, with relatively limited incoming data, used every available resource. Great work.”

Kammerer responded by saying: “Yes, had to warn my family! Kids were home alone and I knew they were not watching me on TV! They are safe. Thank you!

“Scary moment for me though, I was freaking out inside a bit.”

Another Twitter user said: “A good weatherman… a good father showing us all how to keep calm and do both his jobs at the same time.”

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