Fred's interest in weather started way back in 1992, watching the coverage of Hurricane Andrew the first week of third grade and his teacher, Sue Garrett, taking the time to answer questions and explain what was happening.  That passing interest was then cemented into a long-life passion on March 27, 1994 when a violent tornado outbreak struck north central Alabama and adjacent areas of the Southeast.  Fred watched the coverage from James Spann, then at WBRC-TV in Birmingham prior to the move to ABC 33/40, as he covered the F4 tornado that struck the Goshen United Methodist Church near Piedmont, Alabama and its aftermath, including the death of 20 people in that church, and another 2 people lost elsewhere along the tornado's track.  Fred and his family encountered a funnel cloud in Shelby County, Alabama that evening in association with the same supercell thunderstorm that produced an F2 tornado in the Helena and Pelham areas of Alabama.

 

This happened around the time the internet became publicly available in residential homes and public schools, and Fred spent the next several years studying weather (even at a college textbook level while in high school) and using the also available real-time forecast data available on the internet to hone his forecasting experience and skills.  Fred's experience during that time included the April 8, 1998 F5 tornado near Birmingham, AL; the December 16, 2000 F4 tornado in Tuscaloosa; and the November 24, 2001 tornado outbreak in Alabama (the largest tornado outbreak in the state's history until 2011).

 

Professionally or as a hobbyist, Fred Gossage has been analyzing and forecasting weather in north central Alabama, southern Tennessee, and northeast Mississippi for over 27 years.  Professionally, this has included making weather-related dismissal decisions with the Pell City School System, leading forecast operations for national-level forecast website and social media companies, and even working as a forecaster and customer support meteorologist for Baron Weather in Huntsville.  His experience also includes being a severe weather analyst and radar technician at WBRC-TV in Birmingham. Fred was behind the scenes at the station driving the radar systems for on-air tornado coverage on April 27, 2011.  Fred's role there also included on-air severe weather coverage during the January 23, 2012 and March 2, 2012 significant tornado events. 

Fred was co-founder and Chief Meteorologist for Shoals Weather from August 2011 until the operation's merger with WLX Radio that created Tennessee Valley Weather in April 2020.