Precocious 12-year-old gives pro weather forecasters a run for their money

As thunder started to rumble Sunday evening across St. Louis, Missouri, an aspiring young meteorologist grabbed his camera and ran outside to film a weather update, just like his role models would do.

"Today we have severe weather stretching all the way from Minnesota into Wisconsin and even going down into Missouri," 12-year-old Beckett Moore said in a weather update he filmed Sunday. "Right now, here in St. Louis, we are hearing a few rumbles of thunder, but the most severe weather is up north in Minnesota and Wisconsin."

Moore began recording weather updates and forecasts and sharing the videos on his YouTube page a little over a year ago. During the past year, he has uploaded more than 110 weather forecasts covering winter storms, severe weather and even hurricanes.

His inspiration: extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer, storm chaser Ryan Hall, who bills himself as "the internet's weather man," and local TV meteorologists.

"I really look up to them," Moore said in an interview with AccuWeather. "A lot of them have inspired me to create my YouTube channel and post videos."

Beckett Moore reporting on severe weather on Aug. 28 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Jill Moore via Storyful)

At a young age, Moore became interested in the weather that was occurring right outside his window. His passion for meteorology and sharing the weather forecast with others started with winter storms.

"I would go to school, my friends would ask me, 'Hey Beckett, how many inches of snow is going to fall tomorrow?' or like when the winter storm [was] going to be," Moore explained. "They knew I knew a lot about that and that's basically what sparked my interested for meteorology."

Moore spends his time watching the AccuWeather TV network and the videos shared by Timmer and Hall on YouTube to learn more about meteorology and how forecasting works -- a subject not offered to students in his school.

Moore has even built his own "weather studio" in the basement of his family's house, and according to his mother, Jill Moore, he can be found making forecast videos there when he's not in the field reporting on the weather.

Beckett Moore reporting on severe weather from his weather studio on Aug. 29. (Moore Weather YouTube)

When asked about the future, Moore said he would like to be on TV one day, and storm chasing also sounds interesting to him -- though it doesn't sound so interesting to his mother.

"My mom's not so sure about me storm chasing, but I would really like doing that," Moore said. "TV would probably be the one I'm most fit for since I already make YouTube videos and post them."

But for now, Moore is sticking to sharing his forecasts on his YouTube and newly created Twitter page. Recently, one of his idols, storm chaser Ryan Hall, retweeted one of Moore's forecast videos, sharing it to Hall's roughly 95,000 followers.

The video forecast reached many, who were quick to write what a "fabulous job" Moore was doing.

"This kid has a bright future ahead of him," one Twitter user wrote in response to Moore's video that Hall shared.

"I'm just really excited and grateful that people notice my videos and I get to share my weather interest with the whole weather community," Moore said.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts™ are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.