For LP Grad Mary Ours, the Forecast is Incredibly Bright

These days, she makes her living predicting the weather. But KDKA meteorologist Mary Ours could hardly have predicted her own career path.

Growing up…(i)f someone said, ‘You’re gonna be on the news one day, and you’re gonna be a meteorologist and a scientist,’ I would probably have laughed at them and been like, yeah. Right. No way,” Ours says.

But Ours not only wound up doing just that—she’s also been incredibly successful at it. She’s picked up an Emmy nomination for her work, and was voted Pittsburgh’s best meteorologist last year. And she’s a well-known social personality: her series of “Mary Breaks Down Your Hours” videos on TikTok showcase the singing and dancing ability that landed her starring roles at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School.

The 2008 LP graduate sat down with us to talk about forecasts, family ties, and her time at Lincoln Park—which she calls “the best decision I ever made.”

So let’s go back to the early days. I assume you’ve have always had some kind of interest in performing.

Yes. I always loved performing, growing up. First I did gymnastics. And then after I broke my arm in gymnastics when I was 12, I started doing musicals. And I started singing.

Then when I was 13, I was in ninth grade, and I auditioned for the high school musical. And normally, they didn’t give ninth graders leads in the high school musicals, but I ended up getting Peter Pan. And from there, it just set off my love for performing and musicals. And then I ended up leaving Beaver Falls my junior year to go to Lincoln Park.

What was it that made you decide, after having the success that you had at Beaver Falls, to come here instead for your senior year?

Well, Lincoln Park tried to get me to come my junior year. And I was like, no. Because I wanted to cheer, and I still wanted to be with my friends, and I didn’t want to take a long bus ride. But then I only needed three more classes to graduate, And I was like, what else am I gonna do? I’m gonna be bored.

And I realized, you know what? Lincoln Park would be probably a really good decision. So it just kind of clicked for me pretty late. And then, luckily, they still had openings and let me audition. And it was the best decision I ever made.

What’s the best memory you have of that year that you spent at Lincoln Park?

I think the best thing that year was making new friends, who I’m still friends with now. And it was being able to—I just felt I felt so comfortable. I felt like I was where I belonged.

I mean, three musicals a year is what we did, and I was in every single one of them. I feel like it kind of geared me up for college—because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to college when I was in high school, and then I decided to.

So that’s how I ended up at Point Park. But I ended up going for broadcasting instead, because I didn’t get in the first time for musical theatre. So then, they were like, audition again. Normally, you get in the second time when you audition for musical theatre. And I’m like, no. I was like, let’s do broadcasting instead. And then from there, it all took off.

But Lincoln Park—there were just so many wonderful people there. I would spend my whole days there, from morning till, like, 11 o’clock at night because of rehearsals for musicals. So it was like my home.

Is there a class that you remember most fondly from that year at Lincoln Park?

I really loved my acting class with Mrs. Schaller. I had Krista Shovlin too, for, I believe it was tap. Which was great, because we were in 42nd Street, and I feel like I learned so much from her. So her class is definitely, I think, one of my top faves.

How about those three musicals? Did you have a favorite role, or a favorite show?

Easy. (Laughs) Once on This Island. I was [the Earth godess] Asaka. That is still is one of my most favorite musicals ever. It was amazing.

What’s one thing you learned during that year that you spent at Lincoln Park that has continued to be useful? One lesson, one piece of advice, one experience that keeps paying off?

I’m not really a “one thing” kind of person. I’m more like “a whole bunch of things.” (Laughs)

I think maybe it was the vocal training, because I never really had it. I could always sing, but I never really had the training. So, you know, just being able to work with people who could sing. I really got extensive training there in my senior year, and I feel like that’s when my voice really developed.

And, I mean, I still carry that with me today. You know, breathing exercises, warm-up exercises. I still sing the National Anthem a lot. So I think that really helped me the most.

So how did you come to specialize in metorology?

At Point Park, when I was doing broadcasting, I thought, “I want to be an anchor. That’d be fun.” And then I didn’t really like it. I didn’t really like the ethics behind it. I didn’t like the sad stories. I wanted to do more fun, kind of ad lib stuff.

Then Scott Harbaugh came to one of our classes at Point Park. He’s at WPXI. And then the next day, we had to go into class and do a weather segment. And, you know, I had it in mind, what I was gonna say. I had my script written out, and I was like, “Okay. Who’s gonna put this in the (tele)prompter?” They’re like, you don’t. You ad lib. And I was like, “What? No way. This is perfect! I can just talk about what I learned and what I what I want to say and just spit it out.”

Nobody else in class wanted to go. So I remember I went up first, and then afterward, Scott pulled me aside, and he was like, “Is this what you wanna do?” And I said, “What do I have to do to do this?” And he said, “You have to go back to school for meteorology.” So I did the research on what I needed to do.

My senior year at Point Park, I had to take precalc and calculus in the same semester, which was not allowed. But I wrote a letter to get them to let me do it. And that’s what I needed to get into Mississippi State University, and I got an A and B. And I got into Mississippi State University and got my certification for meteorology, and here I am.

A lot of TV reporters have a story of the toughest day they had on camera, early in their careers. Did you ever have a day like that?

Of course. I have it. I have it. (Laughs)

So it was my first time on-air, and it was in Steubenville, Ohio. I had been shadowing the new meteorologist. And it was winter, I remember, because I had tights on. So I was like, I’ll put my microphone on the back of my tights. Sure. Why not?

Nobody showed me how to turn on the microphone. It was one of those microphones where you have to hold it in for three seconds, and then it’s on. And everyone was panicking and couldn’t figure it out. So here I am, sitting down in a chair with my dress pulled up and everyone just trying to figure out how to turn this thing on. And I don’t think we got it on in time. And my friend had to do the weather at the desk. She still has the video. (Laughs)

And, yeah, it was rough. But then my news director drove in. And he goes, “If that’s the worst thing that ever happens to you on-air, you’re gonna have a great career, kiddo.” So now I always make sure my mic’s on. (Laughs)

What is the biggest misunderstanding about the job of meteorologists that you encounter?

So we ad lib. We don’t read from a script. And we do our own hair and makeup. That’s another one.

But the biggest thing is we actually do our own forecasts! You know, we look at our different models on the Internet. We look at the NAM, the GFS, the HRRR. We look at a thousand different models to get our forecasts ironed out. We don’t just say, okay, I think we’re gonna go with that. We narrow it down: we make a call on whether we’re gonna have a severe weather day, a First Alert weather day, depending on the severity of weather.

We make our own seven-day forecast, and normally take the average of what it’s looking like. We collaborate with one another, work as a team. So there’s a lot that goes into it. And we do all that before we go on air.

One of the stereotypes about meteorologists is that people will complain if you forecast something that doesn’t come to pass. But flipping that around, is there a a forecast that you have developed where you really nailed it?

Oh, yeah. There’s so many times where we’ve done a really good job on-air, of being like, “Hey, you said it was gonna rain at 6 o’clock, and we literally got it down at 6 o’clock.”

And I’m like, yep, I did that. I told you that. And there’s certainly days like that, and it feels amazing.

But then there’s also times where—my one saying is, nothing in weather is absolute. So, you know, snowstorms are the hardest to predict. And when we get it wrong, I will tell you.

What’s it like, being a Beaver County native, to work at KDKA—a station where everybody that you grew up with now sees you on a daily basis?

Growing up, we watched the news, you know—especially sports. But I wasn’t like, “I’m gonna be on the news one day.” I was saying, “I’m gonna be an actress. I’m gonna be a singer. I’m gonna be a star.” That was just my mentality. If someone said, “You’re gonna be on the news one day, and you’re gonna be a meteorologist and a scientist,” I would probably have laughed at them and been like, yeah. (Laughs) Right. No way.

But I always grew up with KDKA, knowing it was “the hometown advantage.” And it’s just home, and it’s always been home. And I knew immediately, when it was time to apply for internships in college, I only wanted to be at KDKA. And luckily, I did get in. It was amazing. I couldn’t believe it. You know?

I cried the day I got the internship. I cried the day I left the internship. And I was like, I wanna be back one day. This is what I wanna do. And there’s definitely hard days, but it it really is fulfilling.

You did mention that you still perform the National Anthem from time to time. In fact, you just peformed it at a Steelers game recently. Singing the National Anthem is maybe similar to meteorology—since in both cases, people have a certain set of expectations, and they can be very critical if those expectations are not met.

So can you compare the pressures of making a weather forecast to the pressures of singing the National Anthem?

You know, when we have severe storms, it’s my job to help people. So I feel that pressure sometimes, that I need to get it right to help people, But I’m on TV five days a week, maybe six. So it’s more so that I’m lucky to be able to [forecast weather], and it’s comfortable.

I thrive the best under pressure. And when I’m singing, you know, like, I wanna go up and do it literally, like, right now. I want the day to be here, and I wanna do it. I don’t look forward to work quite like that. Like, “Oh, I can’t wait for a severe storm to happen.” (Laughs)

Singing, it feels like Christmas morning for me, whenever I’m able to stand there and sing my favorite song to thousands of people. I practice, and then it’s just a rush of adrenaline that, you know, I felt years ago whenever I was on stage. And it’s magical.

Tell us about your family.

So I have two kids. Viviana is 6, and my son Wallace is 3.

The thing that people always ask a performer about their kids is, “Are they potential performers?” Have you been able to ascertain that yet?

Yeah. My daughter’s me, times 10. (Laughs) This is her third year of doing dance. And her memory—she can watch a TikTok, and she remembers the dance moves like crazy. And my son just loves when I sing to him. I have to sing to him every night. And if we’re in the car, he’ll just be like, “Mama sing. Mama sing.” And I do.

So he’s too young to know if he’s gonna have a singing voice. But I’m like, one day, he might be a baller, and then I’ll be able to sing the National Anthem before one of his games.

Speaking of TikTok: your “Mary Breaks Down Your Hours” videos have really taken on a life of their own. How important would you say that social media is for an aspring performer?

I think it’s really important, but I also think it’s really important that you enjoy it. Because if you don’t enjoy it, then it’s going to ruin the fun for you.

I really got into it once COVID happened. And I maybe I was a little late to the game on some things, but then I started doing dances. I’m like, “Oh my gosh. I’m getting back into it!” And, you know, once you have kids too, you start to lose yourself a little, and that helped me get back to myself—learning these dances, you know, singing a little bit more. And then eventually, I found my niche on there, doing “Mary Breaks Down Your Hours” and “Wacky Weatherboard Wednesdays,” and also making up my own jingles because I can sing.

And I think for anybody that’s gonna do that on social media, make sure you love it. Make sure you find something that also interests you, so you’re just not doing it as a chore. And I just love sharing my life with everyone, and sharing my kids. It’s fun. We can have fun. We are real people, too.

For someone who has some aspiration to being a performer—whether that be onstage, whether that be as a meteorologist, whatever—what advice would you give them?

It sounds cliche, but you’re the only you that there is and ever will be. And the possibilities are endless. So surround yourself with good people, and love yourself first. Because without that, you’re not gonna be able to share your passion with anyone else.