DFW's Weatherman Pete Delkus on What It's Like to Deliver Bad Weather News With No Sleep

Every year around this time, the parent company of Five-Hour Energy probably notices a blip in their stock price because of WFAA weatherman Pete Delkus.

That's when he stocks up on the stuff in preparation for his annual marathon of weather broadcasts for the (hopefully) single snow storm Dallas-Fort Worth gets in the winter.

"I just stay awake the whole time," Delkus says from Channel 8's newly built newsroom. "Ten or 15 years ago, in the room we'd have some sofas and stuff, and I'd lay down at 3 in the morning for 30 minutes. When I walked into the weather center, I was groggy and oh gosh, there's gonna be a tornado warning and it took me a minute to snap out of that fog."

Delkus says the bulk of the work of his marathon snow storm coverage starts long before the snow starts falling. Sometimes, people get unfair. They take to Facebook and Twitter to vent their frustration with the storm and Delkus just happens to be in their line of fire.

An old photo of a Zoli's sign expressing their rage at the weatherman seems to be making the rounds this year and even caught Delkus's attention on Facebook.

There are many misconceptions about Delkus' job, aside from the fact that he only reports and does not actually control the weather.

"In the TV business, people think you only work when you're on TV," he says. "Like athletes, people only see when you play the game. The reality is all the hard work happens before the game begins."

For Delkus, the payoff is when he gets to interrupt regular programming and step in front of the weather map.

"Being on TV is the fun part," Delkus says. "You're getting paid to talk."

Of course, things are considerably different with this year's storm. Last year, the air temperature in Dallas dropped to as low as 1 degree Fahrenheit and the cold lasted for five days, according to weather data from NASA.

Things can get a little heavy when the weather outlook gets more dangerous. Last year's winter weather storm led to an alarming number of power outages across the state as the electric grid failed under the record-breaking temperatures.

"That's when we have a responsibility," Delkus says. "Like that public servant, we're here to help people be safe, protect their families and stuff. That's a responsibility that none of us take too lightly but we certainly embrace and understand the heaviness of it if you will."

Even without a healthy amount of sleep, Delkus says he relishes the opportunity to inform his shivering viewers who make him a local trending topic on Twitter every year.

"That's good job security," Delkus says with a laugh. "That's what you hope for. You never set out to do that but it is a fun part of the job when you know you have people that trust you and rely on you for information. That's important to me but it's also nice to put a smile on someone's face."