Molly Cochran Robey remembers the exact moment when a fascination with meteorology blew into her life. “I was in second grade,” she recalls “when Kevin Benson flew in a helicopter to our school to talk to us about the weather. I was instantly in awe.”
Most children’s interests and dreams for the future tend to shift and change with time. But young Molly’s passion for learning about our climate and planet just kept growing. Today, she expresses genuine gratitude for the way her Greene County upbringing helped things along.
Having two teachers for parents also didn’t hurt. Don and Kathy Cochran always encouraged and supported their daughter’s love for learning, and their home along the Monongahela River in Rices Landing provided an ideal environment for a nature-loving little girl. “I spent most summer days outside from sunup to sundown,” she recalls. “Exploring Pumpkin Run Park… Watching the storms roll down the river. Those are memories I’ll never forget.”
Nonetheless, she didn’t necessarily predict that, someday, she’d really become a meteorologist.
For one thing, when it came to the best-known figures occupying such careers back then, Molly certainly didn’t fit the traditional mold. “I remember Joe DiNardo and Kevin Benson well,” she recalls, “but I just didn’t see many women on TV reporting the weather.”
In addition to that perceived gender barrier, Molly also says, “I was kind of shy.” Some formative hometown experiences eventually helped her with that. “I played high school sports, participated in the Coal Queen Pageant, worked as a lifeguard for many summers, and with Pam Snyder,” she explains. Those opportunities helped grow not only Molly’s self-confidence, but also her genuine connection to her community. “My small-town roots have kept me grounded,” she says.
However, that background also presented some unique challenges. Like the transition to Penn State’s main campus after graduating high school in 2010. “I received such a good foundational education at Jefferson Morgan,” she says. “It really helped prepare me for college.” Still, the drastic difference in class size sometimes felt intimidating.
Molly chose a Broadcast Journalism major and Political Science minor. Her initial attempt at some meteorology classes left her feeling discouraged. She recalls expressing newfound doubts about her childhood dream to a professor: “Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.”
She also recalls that professor’s response: “I remember the conversation as clear as day. She said, ‘If you want to do weather, then you’re going to do weather!’ Then she helped me.” That experience profoundly marked Molly’s life, proving that one person can absolutely make a difference in the life, and entire trajectory, of another.
So began the “untraditional path,” Molly says she took toward achieving her goals. Her first real connection to meteorology was an internship with AccuWeather in State College. “From a very young age, my parents taught me about work ethic.” Molly knew she’d have to work hard for what she wanted. So, she did. “I just kept taking the next step and being grateful,” she says. Shadowing more experienced individuals; working extra hours; she pursued every opportunity. The internship led to part-time employment with AccuWeather. That led to the full-time on-air broadcasting position she would ultimately maintain while earning a Master’s Degree in Applied Meteorology from Mississippi State University.
Step by step, Molly’s childhood dream career became reality. Today, her resume includes broadcasts on national outlets like ABC World News, Big Ten Network, Fox News, and MSNBC. She also helped launch the AccuWeather Network. More locally, she’s freelanced for WPMT in York, PA, and Pittsburgh’s WPXI.
Along the way, the industry has evolved in ways second-grade Molly likely never imagined. “Back then, people had to get the forecast from the evening news. Now, we can pull up the weather any time we want, 24-hours a day,” she says. With advancements in technology, accessibility, and scientific literacy, she predicts the meteorology field will continually expand. “There are so many new and different avenues to take with it now,” she says.
The avenue Molly took eventually led her to WJLA-TV in Washington, DC, and some uniquely memorable experiences. She’s hosted a talk show, interviewed celebrities, and even milked a goat on live TV! “I never knew what a day would hold,” she says.
During that time, she had the especially fulfilling opportunity to conduct local school visits. (Undeniably full circle… except in an “insane storm chaser truck” instead of a helicopter!) “I love helping children learn that science isn’t scary,” Molly says. She believes understanding the environment from a scientific standpoint plays an important role in keeping people safe. “It’s so great for kids to see someone just like them doing this job.”
Authenticity clearly matters to Molly. Since on-air weather broadcasters follow no script, individual human variability plays a significant role. While that can sometimes feel challenging, Molly’s also found that bringing an authentic personal touch to her work really helps her connect with viewers.
The combination of her ability to connect, love of learning, and passion for her work would eventually lead Molly to another “next step” in her career: Assistant Teaching Professor of Communication at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, where she currently teaches communication and meteorology classes to undergraduate students.
Just as in her first industry position, Molly continues to balance an impressive number of things. Besides teaching full-time, she’s also a freelance meteorologist for CBS’s WJZ in Baltimore, and a contributing writer for The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang.
All while she and her husband, Riley, raise young sons, Miles, 2, and newborn Rohan – who arrived just days before this publication!
Molly makes clear that great mentorship and support have been crucial in her ability to achieve all she has thus far. And that while the seasons of career and life change, the need for those things never does. “I’m so lucky to have so many great people in my corner,” she says.
…Mostly sunny. With an above-average chance of gratitude.
That’s Greene County’s Molly Cochran Robey, and the beautiful outlook she offers the world.
Fantastic Read! Great job Molly