When one chapter closes, another begins \u2014 and by the end of next month, Texans will be seeing a fresh face giving the forecast following a veteran meteorologist’s exit.<\/p>\n
Hannah Gard announced on Instagram<\/a> on April 10\u00a0that she’ll be coming to Austin NBC affiliate KXAN from FOX 8 in New Orleans, where she spent four years.\u00a0She told MySA the move marks a return to her home\u00a0state, having been born in Houston and growing up in Colorado \u2014 and it happened because her husband was accepted into a physical therapy school in the Capital City.<\/p>\n “Every single year, multiple times a year, we would go drive down through Texas and see all of our families. So it was always kind of like a second home to me, and it was where I was originally from, and all of our people are from there,” she said. “Austin, specifically, I’ve always been super interested in living in because it just has such a fun vibe. The Hill Country is beautiful. I’ve always loved going out there, so that was really appealing to us to be able to be closer to family. And my husband’s family is in Oklahoma, so it’s close to them too.”<\/p>\n Gard will be on for the weekend morning time slot, as well as the 7 to 9 a.m. shows from Monday to Wednesday. She steps in behind Rich Segal<\/a>, who spent 45 years on air as a meteorologist. Though he’d also worked in Wichita Falls and Denison, Segal is a longtime Austinite, first coming to KXAN in the mid-90s. He took a brief break from TV, then returned to the weather for 18 years at a 24-hour news service. From 2018 to 2020, he returned to KXAN as a fill-in, then made a full\u00a0return in 2022. He announced his decision to retire back in January, not long after his weekend co-anchor Jala Washington left for NBC 5 in Dallas.<\/p>\n “I love going to a place that has a legacy like that, because that’s how you know it’s a great place to be,” Gard said. “He speaks so highly of it. He is so talented and trusted in the community. So I do think that it will be a great place to learn, because I love learning from people that are so deeply ingrained in an area and know everything about it, and have the trust of everyone there. So I’m really excited to still be able to learn from him, and that he’ll get the opportunity to take his next steps. But he’ll still be around, which is great, because I’ll be able to\u00a0pick his brain.”<\/p>\n