Ryan Mahan
Meteorologist
Hattiesburg, MS
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Ryan Mahan’s passion for weather began in 2005 after witnessing the destruction that Hurricane Katrina had on his family and home. With nothing but a point-and-shoot digital camera in hand, he walked miles up and down the Coast to document the tragedy and its effects on the area and people around him. Using social media, he posted the photos and the stories behind them. The reaction from his peers inspired him to pursue a career doing what had, up until then, been a hobby.
A former student of Millsaps and a graduate of the University of South Alabama, he now has a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology with a focus in Broadcast.
Born in Tennessee, raised in Arkansas, and now with over 20 years as resident of Mississippi, Ryan is proud to be a Southerner and to belong to this community.
When not in front of a green screen, you can find Ryan spending time with his wife, Mandy, and son Sigurd. He enjoys all things science fiction, gaming, and staying active at the YMCA.
Updated: 8 hours ago
|By Ryan Mahan
When we started this week Monday morning our temperatures were in the mid 20s, and now we’re heading into our second afternoon in the 80s this week. That won’t even be the end of it then since Friday will continue our trend of hot and muggy highs, but after that we’ll finally start to see some changes...slooooooowly.
Updated: Mar. 22, 2023 at 8:32 AM CDT
|By Ryan Mahan
Do you remember we still had Freeze Warnings in effect yesterday morning? Well, we talked about how we’d start frosty, but would quickly warm back to where it should be in the low 70s thanks to our shifting winds. Those winds shifted southerly yesterday, and will continue to blow in from the south for the rest of the week.
Updated: Mar. 21, 2023 at 8:22 AM CDT
|By Ryan Mahan
Still quite cold out there with temperatures near and below freezing across the Pine Belt, but we’ll more than double that as we warm rapidly into the afternoon. In fact, temperatures will rise around 10-14 degrees from yesterday’s high in the upper 50s and low 60s! We’re not even done warming yet either.
Updated: Mar. 20, 2023 at 7:58 AM CDT
|By Ryan Mahan
Later this afternoon we will “officially” begin spring, but first we ironically have one of the coldest lows we’ve seen since that ridiculous cold snap around Christmas. Lows fell as far as 24 degrees in the Pine Belt today, though they went as high 29 on the southern end.
Updated: Mar. 17, 2023 at 8:38 AM CDT
|By Ryan Mahan
That rain we’ve been talking about all week is finally here, and will be with us for most of the day before clearing. We’re mostly just expecting rain, likely light-to-moderate with a few heavy pockets mixed in, but we can’t rule out a few thunderstorms. Severe weather isn’t a large concern, but as the front exits the area it is expected to “flare up,” leading to a level 2 severe risk for our Southeastern half.
Updated: Mar. 16, 2023 at 9:11 AM CDT
|By Ryan Mahan
Expect to have quite the case of “weather whiplash” later today as your morning and afternoon will feel like they’re from completely different climates. On average this morning’s lows were a few degrees warmer than yesterday’s, though it still felt largely the same. This afternoon’s high however will more than double today’s low, climbing as high as 76 in the central Pine Belt later today.
Updated: Mar. 15, 2023 at 9:15 AM CDT
|By Ryan Mahan
Today will get off to the coldest start of the week, but after that we begin a warming trend that’ll have us near 80 before our next front. Fans of cold weather don’t fret though, we’ll only be there for one day before some of the coolest afternoons we’ve seen this year move in for the weekend and start of next week.
Updated: Mar. 14, 2023 at 9:19 AM CDT
|By Ryan Mahan
It was a little frosty out there on the northern end of the area today thanks to our continued northerly breeze and cooling temperatures. These conditions may still feel like quite a shock after the very long period of ridiculously unseasonably warm and humid weather, really making today’s high of 60 feel downright wintry.
Updated: Mar. 13, 2023 at 9:12 AM CDT
|By Ryan Mahan
Finally going to be some noticeable change on the temperature front today thanks to yesterday’s cold front. Yesterday turned out not so bad despite an eleventh-hour upgrade to a level 3 risk of severe weather thanks to only three severe reports in the area: two tree damage and one hail.
Updated: Mar. 9, 2023 at 10:09 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Getting off to another foggy start today, with pockets of dense fog popping up across the area again this morning. That isn’t much different from the way we’ve started every day this week, so you know we’re in for a familiar experience later today.
Updated: Mar. 8, 2023 at 9:26 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
No forecast surprises today as we start warmer than average, humid, cloudy, and foggy once again today. Also like the last few days though: the fog will lift fairly quickly, the clouds will clear some during the afternoon and evening, and we’ll see at least some few-and-far between precipitation.
Updated: Mar. 7, 2023 at 9:23 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
If you liked last week or yesterday, you’ll find a lot more to like today as we’ll see more of the same pattern: hot, humid, and cloudy. Other than the short-lived break we saw over the weekend when some drier, but not all that much cooler, air moved in that’s pretty much where we’ve been since the start of the year.
Updated: Mar. 6, 2023 at 8:57 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Get ready for another “way warmer than it should be” week ahead, but cooler than average weather is finally on the horizon. That’s going to be next week, as this one is shaping up to be as warm and humid as last week was.
Updated: Mar. 3, 2023 at 7:24 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Expect to see a drastically different day later this afternoon than we’ve seen over the last few as the sun returns and the humidity lessens! It’s not going to feel like winter again or anything like that just yet, but we will see a nearly 10 degree drop from where our highs have been this week.
Updated: Mar. 2, 2023 at 6:54 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Things have improved slightly for the Pine Belt in regards the the potential for severe weather we’ve been eyeing all week. The good news is the threat has lessened some as the highest risk has dropped from level 3 to level 2, but it’s still close enough to be concerning as it slowly breaks down.
Updated: Mar. 1, 2023 at 7:06 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Still quite warm and humid out there, but not seeing much fog development this morning. Not seeing much development of anything today thanks to our continued benign, warm, humid, and fairly cloudy pattern, but it will change soon as a front finally moves through the area.
Updated: Feb. 24, 2023 at 8:28 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
The weather has been nothing if not consistent for most of this week...consistently warm/hot and quite humid. Yesterday that lead to a new daily temperature record for the 22nd of February with a high of 85 degrees, beating the previous record by 2 degrees.
Updated: Feb. 23, 2023 at 8:42 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
It was fairly frosty when I left to go out of town last Friday, but now things are downright “summer-ish” out there. In fact, the lowest low I saw this morning in the Pine Belt was 69 degrees, and we’ll shoot up into the mid 80s later today! My current forecast high for this afternoon is 84 degrees, which would break today’s record high of 83 degrees which was set on this day in 2022, 2011, and 1962. It’s all going to come down to cloud cover, which I expect will be SLIGHTLY thinner than expected later today.
Updated: Feb. 17, 2023 at 7:42 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Considering the attention and hype yesterday’s storms received from the weather community at large, things ended up going about as well as they could have short of a completely clear skies. I promise you these type of events are just as frustrating for us as it is for you, because even if we personally don’t believe anything significant will occur we’ll always choose “safe” over “sorry.”
Updated: Feb. 16, 2023 at 7:41 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Today is at least our third “First Alert Weather Day” since we began the new year, and strong storms are expected once again. My message during Sunrise this morning is one of patience. Today’s storms carries a level 3 risk of severe weather, not insignificant at all, but it’ll still be upwards of 4-6 hours before we see our first thunderstorm.
Updated: Feb. 15, 2023 at 8:38 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Today is going to look like buckets of rain and even a few thunderstorms could happen at any time, but it’ll be another one of those days that’s more of a cloudy day than a rainy day. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any rain, I do expect a very few and far between pockets of drizzle/light rain which won’t do much more than keep the ground damp and skies grey for the entire day.
Updated: Feb. 14, 2023 at 8:05 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
What a difference a day can make, eh? Yesterday morning temperatures had fallen below freezing in many locations, and were quite frosty in others, but today we’re about 15 degrees warmer. This big warm-up came with a boost in moisture as well, leading to areas of patchy-to-locally dense fog...which we’ll likely keep tomorrow as we warm another 10 degrees or more for tomorrow morning.
Updated: Feb. 13, 2023 at 9:15 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
We’re going to start off this week nice and frosty with a morning low of 32 in Hattiesburg, but overall this week will trend considerably above average with very few exceptions. This morning is one of those rare exceptions thanks to lows as cold as 29 in the area, but rapid warming will have us even warmer than yesterday with a few areas reaching 70 this afternoon!
Updated: Feb. 10, 2023 at 8:43 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Don’t expect to see much sun today! Sure a beam or two will manage to peek through from time to time, but overall today will be cloudy and cooler with only the off chance of a stray shower. That’s why today will be more of a cloudy day than a rainy day, but that changes tomorrow as more consistent rain moves in.
Updated: Feb. 9, 2023 at 6:53 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Expect to see some positive changes to your weather across the area today! Last night’s front is now gone to the East, and the effects of the cold front are already being felt as the winds have shifted from the south to the north, bringing cooler and drier air. It’s just not going to be significantly cooler or drier, so temper those expectations!
Updated: Feb. 8, 2023 at 8:29 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Yesterday I mentioned we’d likely be dealing with some fog this morning as our humidity shot up ahead of today/tonight’s front. That lead to the entire Pine Belt being under a Dense Fog Advisory until at least 9 AM, though I didn’t see many areas reporting at dense fog criteria (a quarter mile of visibility or less) using the cameras. Still, expect you may see some lingering issues as late as 10 AM, especially in fog-prone/calm areas.
Updated: Feb. 7, 2023 at 9:10 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Expect to only get a taste of sunshine and even a few spotty showers today as clouds move in ahead of tomorrow’s front. That said I’d like to be clear I don’t believe today will be a “rainy” day as much as it’ll be a “cloudy” day with a stray shower in the afternoon. The cloud cover wasn’t the only change we saw today, our morning low also increased by an average of 10 degrees!
Updated: Feb. 6, 2023 at 8:04 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Skies cleared late last week and have stayed that way through today, but clouds and rain are right around the corner. Still, don’t expect either for today as we’ll see nothing but sunshine across the area this afternoon. We’ll start off the day quite chilly though, with lows near 38 degrees in the central Pine Belt with areas of light fog/mist.
Updated: Feb. 3, 2023 at 9:15 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Nothing but good news for today’s forecast, so I won’t need to take up too much of your time! We finally see some sun today after yesterday brought our last grey, rainy day of the week.
Updated: Feb. 2, 2023 at 9:18 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Well we’ve been talking about it all week long and it’s finally here...our rainy day. Rain moved in this week all day Sunday, but since it’s just been cloudy, damp, and dreary. We haven’t seen any active weather outside of a random pocket of drizzle over the last few days, and still haven’t as of this morning, but by lunchtime more consistent rain will move in.
Updated: Jan. 31, 2023 at 8:34 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
We’re in for an even more foggy day than we saw yesterday, as Dense Fog Advisories have been issued for all Pine Belt counties until 10 AM. Visibility is affected across the area, and I can personally confirm it to be as low as hundreds of feet or less at times.
Updated: Jan. 30, 2023 at 7:41 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Today will not be the prettiest day to start off the week, but it will thankfully be a tad drier. That’s because we won’t see the all day rain we saw yesterday, just some lingering drizzle or a passing light shower at the worst today, but we will keep those clouds and the warm, humid air.
Updated: Jan. 26, 2023 at 8:23 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
We’re starting off chilly once again in the mid 30s to low 40s across the area, but don’t worry all you cold weather fans...it gets even colder for the next few mornings. It likely won’t “feel” all that much colder because our wind will have dropped off considerably by then, so wind chills will be much more in line with the air temperature than they are this morning.
Updated: Jan. 25, 2023 at 8:51 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Thankfully yesterday’s storms came and went without any damage reports in the area, and now we’ll see cooling conditions. Normally we’ll also see some clearing as drier air moves in, but this time there will be some lingering moisture that’ll keep cloud cover in the area until later tonight.
Updated: Jan. 24, 2023 at 8:35 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Today is the day we’ve been watching as a potential severe weather event and a “First Alert Weather Day” has been declared. That means the focus of all the forecasts will be on approaching storms and how to prepare, and most of our news coverage will be related to that as well.
Updated: Jan. 23, 2023 at 8:53 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Today is going to be a beautiful, sunny, and cool day after a clear and chilly start. That’s all thanks to our weekend cold front that gave us a rainy and cool Saturday, but has now set us up with a cool, dry airmass that’ll stick around through the night and into tomorrow...but not much longer.
Updated: Jan. 20, 2023 at 8:33 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
It’s definitely a lot colder this morning than it has been any other time this week thanks to yesterday’s cold front. It didn’t cool things down much yesterday with highs still in the 70s, but this morning’s low fell to just a few degrees above freezing in many Pine Belt cities.
Updated: Jan. 19, 2023 at 7:34 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
oday is going to be a day of changing winds and changing weather. We’ve been talking for the last several days about the front we saw last night/this morning, which would bring us a very low chance of severe weather...but that has already come and gone, ushering in some rapid clearing.
Updated: Jan. 18, 2023 at 7:44 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Visibility is going to be an issue this morning across the area as our warm, humid, and finally calm conditions have developed a thick layer of fog. Dense Fog Advisories have been issued and will linger until 10 AM, fairly late in the morning, due to our cloudy skies, slow daytime warming, and humid conditions.
Updated: Jan. 17, 2023 at 9:24 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
The clouds may have moved in yesterday, but today the rain moves in though it isn’t looking like much to be worried about. In fact, expect just a smattering of showers across the area for the first half of the day without any concerning weather or rainfall amounts.
Updated: Jan. 16, 2023 at 8:39 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Still chilly out there to start off the week, but a rapid warming trend has started and things are getting more humid by the minute. That won’t lead to any active weather issues today, just building cloud cover as the first of a few fronts this week creeps closer.
Updated: Jan. 13, 2023 at 8:59 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
We did end up with a few Tornado and Severe T-Storm Warnings yesterday, but outside of a few wind damage reports yesterday’s front didn’t bring too much to the area...outside of this much colder air. That’s what’s going to be the most notable change this morning is the temperature as our low falls from the upper 60s/low 70s where it was yesterday to around 44 this morning.
Updated: Jan. 11, 2023 at 7:19 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
We’ve been right on the edge of it for the last few mornings, but the fog is going to be a tad more noticeable for the next few mornings...especially in our most fog-prone areas Still, I don’t expect to see any major issues with it as today’s will be patchy at worst, while tomorrow’s is expected to be patchy-to-locally dense at the worst. This buildup of moisture is all happening ahead of our next front, arriving as soon as tomorrow morning and bringing a noticeable, but quite short cool-down.
Updated: Jan. 6, 2023 at 10:07 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
If you’re a fan of cold weather I hope you were able to make it out around sunrise today, because that’s the coldest we’ll be for at least the next couple of weeks. Lows fell down to 32 degrees in the coldest areas of the Pine Belt this morning, while most were closer to the mid 30s.
Updated: Jan. 4, 2023 at 7:48 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Yesterday’s storms wrapped up overnight without bringing much verifiable severe weather, and now things will be clearing rapidly today. In fact, it was still raining at 3 am on the southeastern end of the pine belt, but there won’t be anything but sun in the sky by sunrise.
Updated: Jan. 2, 2023 at 10:22 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
Expect to see low-visibility issues across the Pine Belt this morning, but they shouldn’t linger long after 10 AM as we warm up. That doesn’t mean it won’t be humid, in fact that keeps rising as we head into tomorrow ahead of a round of potentially severe storms.
Updated: Dec. 30, 2022 at 8:23 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
It’s been over a week since that dry, Arctic air moved in with very little rain, but today will bring showers and thunderstorms to the Pine Belt. Now this isn’t a “First Alert Weather Day” or anything...I’d like to be clear on that...but there is a “very low/marginal” risk of severe weather in the area.
Updated: Dec. 28, 2022 at 8:57 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
You still likely had to give yourself a few minutes extra for your morning commute due to some lingering frost, but today will be the last frosty day for a while. In fact, once we leave the 30s behind later today we won’t see them again for at least the next two weeks!
Updated: Dec. 27, 2022 at 9:29 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
We’ve warmed to the point now no Pine Belt counties are under a Hard Freeze Warning, dropping the handful that were still hanging on yesterday. However, that doesn’t mean it’ll be “warm” by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, though the Hard Freeze Warning has expired, we still saw light freeze-to-frosty conditions today and will again tomorrow...at least on the northern end of the area.
Updated: Dec. 26, 2022 at 8:37 AM CST
|By Ryan Mahan
I hope everyone who celebrates out there had a great Christmas weekend, despite the ridiculously, abnormally low temperatures. Thankfully, the wind has died down considerably, which is making it FEEL much warmer despite not actually BEING much warmer, though even that’s an issue we won’t have much longer as things warm up.
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