'I never, ever saw any of this coming': Iowa sports reporter's weather rant goes global

On Thursday morning, as snowstorms swept Iowa and the wind chill hit minus 40 degrees, KWWL sports reporter and anchor Mark Woodley stepped in as a weather reporter for a 3½-hour report.

He didn't know that shortly after, parts of his sometimes snarky broadcast would become a global phenomenon.

Woodley, who was live on air in Waterloo at 4:30 a.m., was not shy about his feelings on the matter while on air: "What better time to ask the sports guy to come in about five hours earlier than he normally would wake up, go stand out in the wind, the snow and the cold, and tell other people not to do the same?"

Later than day, as the sun rose in Iowa and the blizzard continued, Woodley released a collection of quips made on the broadcast to his personal Facebook and public Twitter account.

Since Thursday morning, outlets from across the globe have picked up the story, including the Associated Press and CNN.

More:Waterloo TV sports reporter rants hilariously on air as he's assigned storm coverage duty

As of Friday evening, Woodley's tweet had been seen nearly 23 million times and had nearly 28,000 retweets. Some celebrities, including comedian Judd Apatow and journalist Katie Couric, are among them.

"It's made its way across the world. I had a friend of mine from Wales tell me, 'Dude, you're on TV here!'" Woodley told the Des Moines Register. "It's just went insane, and I never, ever saw any of this coming."

Though he'd been told by KWWL on Tuesday that he'd be covering weather because the week's blizzard forecast caused sports games to be postponed, Woodley said he didn't know the timing of the forecast on Wednesday afternoon.

"I didn't really have any time to adjust my sleep schedule. So I put down a little bit of what I said to fatigue," he said. "Maybe some of the thoughts that were in my head came to the forefront more easily."

Mostly his comments are just a part of his personality, which he said most of his co-workers recognize. "I flip grief to our co-workers all the time, and we do it on air. It's in good fun. I was just being me," Woodley said.

But, he added, some of his comments about the demands put on weather reporters had an element of truth to them, like standing outside during a blizzard while telling viewers to stay home.

"We've been a bit short-handed since the pandemic, so a lot of us get thrown into roles that aren't our normal role," Woodley said. "We all have to pitch in, and I'm fine doing that."

More:Updates: Iowa DOT reports shutdown of I-35 as blowing snow makes driving hazardous

Woodley did 14 live shots during the full 3½-hour shift. He said most of the time he spent on air was serious, given the blizzard's danger.

"What's on Twitter is a super cut from all 14 of those. I'm on air probably about 20 minutes, and that clip is 90 seconds," Woodley said. "Basically, I like to say that's it's like a trailer from a bad comedy movie. All the funny parts are in the trailer."

On Friday, the clothing store RAYGUN released two shirts featuring quotes from Woodley's broadcast. A portion of the proceeds will go to Cedar Bend Humane Society, a Black Hawk County animal shelter where Woodley's children volunteer.

"I feel like if you've had a RAYGUN shirt, you've made it," Woodley said. "I never imagined I was going to be a T-shirt."

"All of us think we're going to get famous for something," Woodley said. "Crotchety old weather reporter? I don't think that was ever on my list."

Nina Baker is a news reporter at the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at NBaker@gannett.com or on Twitter @Nina_M_Baker.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa sports reporter's hilarious weather coverage rant goes viral