Friday, October 16, 2026
Weather has been a fascination for Sea Cliff resident Vincent Lilly since elementary school. He would sit on the porch or by a window and watch thunderstorms unfold.
After a severe tropical storm in August 2020, Lilly began turning his interest into action. Now, the Kellenberg Memorial High School sophomore has grown his own YouTube weather channel, Mr. Storm WX, to more than 2,000 subscribers.
“Any type of content I put out, if it is helping people become more knowledgeable or just feel safer with this storm,” Lilly said, “that’s really kind of my goal.”
Lilly called the August 2020 tropical storm “the craziest storm” he remembers that made him want to learn more about how weather works. He recounted his experience with the storm, noticing fast-moving clouds, high winds and falling tree limbs. Lilly’s mother, Ayme, added that fallen branches began sticking in the ground, standing up like “mini trees” and narrowly missing their house’s windows.
“I was actually afraid that a window would break,” she said. “So, we all ran downstairs.”
Lilly added that when the storm was over and the power was still out, he and his mother drove around their neighborhood, finding debris and even a tree that had fallen on a car, breaking its windshield.
“That was just crazy to see a storm with that much force,” Lilly said, “and that much power impact me directly.”
After that 2020 storm, Lilly began teaching himself about weather, first taking out books from his elementary school library, then using school computers to do research online. He came across the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, which he said made him realize there was a larger community of people doing different weather-related jobs.
Lilly then began exploring weather channels on YouTube, finding Mitch West Weather. West discusses weather in the United States, except for Alaska and Hawaii, with a focus on the Central and Eastern regions. Lilly said watching West’s forecasts made him want to start a YouTube channel too. So, he began collecting research and forecast websites and resources from watching West.
West did a Zoom call with Lilly in 2021 where Lilly was able to ask him questions. Lilly said West shared a lot of information that helped Lilly build a foundation for his own channel.
“The weather community,” Ayme added, “has been very supportive and amazing with the young teenagers who want to do this work.”
Lilly also began watching other weather channels like Max Velocity and Ryan Hall, Y’all. In 2022, he made his first forecast video.
“It was awful,” he said. “It was like 20 minutes. I don’t even know. I can’t even describe it.”
He added that he kept going, watching others’ videos and doing more research, coming across people all over the world with similar channels.
“The number one thing about people making weather forecasts and doing live coverage obviously,” Lilly said, “is to keep people protected, keep people safe.”
Lilly’s channel includes forecast videos for any big upcoming storm across the mainland United States or major weather stories. Like other weather YouTubers, he uses websites with weather model data, explains what the data means, shares his thoughts and predictions and information on how people can prepare.
Severe weather can also mean livestreaming with live radar, showing people in real time where a storm is headed and who needs to prepare. Lilly explained that this has helped him reach a larger audience.
“There’s been several times where I’ve had to help hundreds of people, live, through a tornado warning or through an actual tornado,” he said. “And in my opinion, that is the best way for me to specifically reach people that are in immediate need of help, guidance, information, whatever it may be.”
Lilly worked to keep people up to date on September’s nor’easter, discussing the storm’s change in trajectory and strength. He said that reaching 2,000 subscribers is a “big milestone” that encourages him to keep working and aim for more viewers and subscribers.
One YouTube user from Rhode Island, SwitchEmcee3775, had praise for Lilly’s coverage of September’s nor’easter.
“Your coverage is more comprehensive than my local news outlet,” he commented under the Sept. 24 video. “Your cadence, and annunciation are on point, keep up the good work.”
Going forward, Lilly added, he is focusing on developing skills for college and thinking about a career path. He said he is exploring meteorology but wants to choose the path that his future self would be most happy with.
Ayme described watching her son’s channel evolve as “an interest ride,” adding that she could see his interest in weather from when he was little.
“To watch him work so hard, completely without getting grades or credit or money or anything, just for the love of it,” she said, “and to develop his channel to become something so much bigger than the way to started out, it’s been amazing.”
