Saint Nicholas 2023
Carl Arredondo

Carl was always interested in weather from the time he was a child in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. When he was in 6th grade, a Hispanic TV meteorologist came to his class on career day, and that chance meeting changed the trajectory of Carl’s life forever. After that he knew he wanted to become a meteorologist.

Carl earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, while working for a private weather company. During this time he was an on-site meteorologist for two months with a French oil company in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

In 1986 Carl’s television career began in Brownsville, TX before he moved to stations in Corpus Christi and Laredo. From Texas Carl moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he become an on-camera meteorologist for The Weather Channel in 1988.

Carl Arredondo
New Orleans, Louisiana

“I applaud the Krewe of Krampus for making accessibility row and one of the first parades ever to do that. I’m even more honored to be asked to be Saint Nicholas 2023. As a visually impaired person it will be a little bit of a challenge walking the parade route at night but I am honored to represent the visually impaired community to be Saint Nicholas 2023 in the parade.”

In 1991, Carl moved to New Orleans and WWLTV, where he remained on air for over 27 years. For a majority of those years he was Chief Meteorologist for the CBS affiliate. While at WWLTV he guided Southeast Louisiana and south Mississippi through many hurricanes and severe weather. As a beloved local figure he was always involved with community outreach with things like talking to school students about the weather and participating in many charity events. Carl retired from broadcasting in March 2019 due to a genetic eye condition, Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), which was causing Carl to lose his vision.

After this life change Carl then studied to become a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist at Stephen F. Austin in Texas. This allowed him to teach people who are Blind or Low Vision how to move safely and be independent using a white cane until August 2023. Carl is also on the Board of Directors for WRBH Reading Radio for the Blind where he hosts a Public Affairs Show for the station. Carl is a Certified Adaptive and Inclusive Trainer for adaptive athletes and is currently coaching as a CrossFit L1 Trainer for CrossFit NOLA. In his spare time, Carl also enjoys movies, CrossFit, and the weather.

Carl has one son, Carl IV, who graduated in May 2020 from the University of Louisiana in Monroe as a meteorologist and works for the National Buoy Center. Carl is engaged to Isis Casanova and lives in New Orleans with Isis and her Loyola University Music Major, Sofia.