The art of weather

Marty Mayeaux’s life is the culmination of science-meets-art. He is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service and was even a hurricane hunter with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). While he has a strong mind for science, he is also an exceptional artist.
The youngest son of Richard and Barbara Mayeaux, Marty grew up in the Shady Acres subdivision of Ville Platte through the 1980s and into the mid 1990s. There were lots of kids in his neighborhood. Since there was only one way in and one way out of their circular subdivision, Mayeaux said he and the neighborhood kids were like a little tribe, and everyone’s parents had a stake in watching over them. Bus 17 ferried them back and forth to school everyday. “We ran free without much worry and concern for our safety. Adjacent to our neighborhood were acres and acres of pastures and woods to tromp through.”
It was in one of these pastures where Mayeaux and his friends conducted one memorable experiment. “We launched a live frog in a model rocket kit from one of the nearby pastures. It was epic. We had a recovery crew whose sole mission was to find and retrieve the rocket after it touched down in either the trees, sticks or nearby flowing gully. So, we took the frog, wrapped it in wet cotton balls to keep it hydrated for the short ride, stuffed it in the passenger section on top of the rocket, which had a little window, and launched it. The rocket disappeared. But after a while we saw it floating toward the gully with parachute deployed. The recovery crew fished the rocket out of the sticks. We opened the capsule and took the frog out. We laid it on the ground and it just sat there like most frogs do. We may have poked a hop out of it before moving on, but it seemed fine.” Mayeaux said that experiment said something about the character of the kids at the time. “We never settled for things as they were. We pushed the limits on everything, whether it was manned space flight or ultimate mud biking, there was no frontier or ditch that we left unexplored.”
As teenagers, Mayeaux and his friends cruised Ville Platte on the weekends, using CB radios to communicate, back in the days before cell phones. “All of the boys had a CB radio. We all had a handle. I was, of course, Weatherman. We drove up Main Street, and back down LaSalle from the old Sonic to either Sacred Heart or McDonald’s. We would coordinate get-togethers on the CB radio. It was probably the perfect medium for what we were doing. I can’t imagine texting my way through town. Who knows? Maybe the next generation of smart phones will capture what’s left of the CB market. Or perhaps there is already an app for that. We got in trouble with the CB radio a time or two. Boys will be boys.”
When asked if he always wanted to be a meteorologist, or if he had something else in mind, Mayeaux said, “Meteorology was my earliest ambition. When I was awakened by Dick Faurot from KLFY on a school morning I knew that school was likely going to be cancelled for weather. I patiently awaited the announcement from KVPI. I guess those early events sort of fed my fascination with Meteorology.” He even went on to work at KVPI, starting as a weekend DJ, when he was in high school. “To this day I can say it was my favorite job. The operational aspect of staying ahead of the clock was a key skill that not only helped me in directing hurricane missions but also in forecasting.”
After earning my undergraduate degree in meteorology at then NLU in Monroe, Mayeaux began meeting with Father Bob Romero at Sacred Heart Catholic Church to explore a vocation that had been kindling inside of him for years: the priesthood. “Father Bob put me in contact with Father Tom Voorhies, who at the time, was the director of Seminarians and was located in Delcambre. By the fall of 1999 I was enrolled at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans studying philosophy and going through the formation program.” One of Mayeaux’s early assignments was working with HIV and AIDs patients at a local hospice in New Orleans. “Mostly I would take the patients to doctors appointments, family visits, or just hang out. It was a tough assignment. One that I wasn’t ready for.”
Mayeaux felt that meteorology was still his passion, so he made the choice to leave the seminary. In the summer of 1999 he accepted a job with the National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama. “In retrospect, I must admit that losing new friends through a terrible disease such as AIDs and seeing how society reacted to the stigma attached to the disease played a part in that decision. Another reason was recognizing that I needed some life experience before taking on such a responsibility. I still feel that way actually.”
Mayeaux has worked for NOAA and National Weather Service for two decades now. He has lived in several different cities across the south including Tampa and Little Rock. He has even had the opportunity to fly into some of the most notable hurricanes that have affected the Gulf Coast including Rita, Ike, and Katrina. He is currently a senior forecaster at the National Weather Service in Shreveport. “We issue daily forecasts, watches, and warnings to protect life and property during severe weather. Leading shifts and ensuring quality products can be demanding at times.”
When asked what he loves about his job, Mayeaux said, “I would say that as much as my experience in the seminary taught me the impact that one person can have on the lives of others, I guess being in the weather business has afforded me the opportunity to relay life-changing weather information in order to protect others on a grander scale. Whether it is being part of the team that helped forecast a hurricane like Katrina that relocated entire communities and changed the cultural tapestry of Louisiana, or forecasting a local flooding threat long before it happens, there is somehow a ministry buried deep inside this profession.”
Sometimes his job can be exciting, but Mayeaux said excitement is not always a good thing. He said sunny days are more enjoyable, but there have been a few interesting moments, such as the time when he flew over the Atlantic ocean at an altitude of two-hundred feet between the rain bands of a hurricane. “I clearly remember the moment when the pilot announced that he had trouble seeing due to the layer of sea-salt crusting over the windshield of our P-3 Orion aircraft. It was stated without alarm but mere curiosity. After some discussion we concluded that the sea-salt was the likely result of the hurricane force winds ripping the salt from the titanic waves and suspending them in the air. But, who could have known that without flying through it, right? On that mission we had gone where no human had gone before. However, little did we know that the same salt that was coating our windows was also being ingested into the engines. When two out of four of our engines flamed out in the hurricane, it got my attention. I guess you could say it was exciting.”
Weather is not Mayeaux’s only passion. He is a talented artist as well. His life-like drawings and sketches are relatively new endeavor for him. “Its one of those ‘Who knew’ kind of things,” he said. “I had am old pencil set buried in one of my leather bags for years. It was a carryover from month long work excursions and life in hotels in far away places. Drawing helped to occupy my mind when I was bored out of it. I watch very little television, so this was my go to. I keep those old sketches to myself because they are just simply awful.”
Mayeaux took a break from drawing for a long time, but about five years ago he took out his pencils and put together a steamboat image. “It was a couple of orders of magnitude better than anything I had drawn before. Social media provided me a platform to display these images so I started posting them.” Mayeaux’s Facebook page, Marty Mayeaux Pencil Sketch Art Drawings, not only showcase his incredible sketches, but also his talent for matchstick architecture. As for what he likes to draw, he does not prefer one type of art over another; it is more “what type of subject is gnawing at me to be drawn. Inspiration changes like the wind and good reference photos are few and far between. As long as the inspirational well keeps providing, I’ll keep at it.”
Mayeaux believes quality art is more important than drawing for the sake of drawing. “I have become more selective about my subjects, but one thing that keeps me coming back to the craft is when an image I draw touches someone. When a connection is made that bridges the digital gap, it’s something special to me. Handing a person a tangible object is much more meaningful to me than anything that is posted digitally.”
Whether meteorologist or artist, above all, Mayeaux is a loving husband and father. His wife, Heather, is from Louisiana and went to the Louisiana School of Math, Sciences, and Art in Natchitoches. Together they have four children who are home schooled. When asked about Heather, he said, “We met in Little Rock, Arkansas. There is something different about Louisiana people, something that feels like home. Both of us missed that feeling and found it in one another.”