East Texas Favorite Weather Man is in Need of Your Prayers

I have lived in East Texas my entire life. Born and raised in Lindale, lived in Tyler for about 20 years. One constant through my years in East Texas has been KLTV meteorologist Mark Scirto. With the exception of a few years, he has always been the weather man I remember giving the daily forecast or informing us about severe weather moving through the area. That's why I was sad to hear the news on Friday, May 13 that Mark had suffered a stroke.

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Mark Scirto has been the go to meteorologist in East Texas for three plus decades. His knowledge of weather and how it moves through our area is really unmatched. Personally, when severe weather moves through East Texas, I turn to KLTV and will watch Mark's coverage.

For one, severe weather fascinates me. Watching the lightning light up the night sky then hearing the booming thunder mixed with the sound of a heavy rain is a true experience for me. I also watch because I love the educational experience of his coverage. He's not scaring us into jumping into our closets, he takes the information he has in front of him, along with the information from the National Weather Service, and gives us an accurate depiction of what's going on around us.

Just watching this Facebook Live coverage from earlier this month shows that off perfectly.

For full disclosure, our group of radio stations, 101.5 KNUE, Mix 93.1, Classic Rock 96.1 and 107.3 KISS FM has been partnered with KLTV for many years to bring you a daily forecast from their weather team. Mark Scirto delivers the afternoon, evening and overnight forecasts for you on our airwaves. Last week, May 9 through the 13, I was getting the forecasts from either Andrew Tate, Cody Gottschalk or KTRE Chief Meteorologist Brad Hlozek. I thought Mark was just on vacation.

It wasn't until the 5 o'clock news that I learned, as many of you did, that Mark had suffered a stroke.

As they said in their report, Mark is recovering well and is itching to get back to work. I've communicated with Andrew Tate and Cody Gottschalk this weekend and they are very appreciative of the prayers for Mark.

Your prayer doesn't have to be anything elaborate, just a simple

Lord, I pray for your help in healing Mark and for the doctors and nurses who are assisting him. Amen.

You can also send your personal well wishes to Mark through a special email set up for him, GetWellMark@kltv.com. We hope to have him back telling us to get into our small, windowless interior rooms very soon.