Jack Williams was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and served in the US Marine Corps after graduating from high school. After his military service, he attended Jacksonville (Fla.) University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and government in 1962. He began his journalism career at the Florida Times Union in Jacksonville while attending college and subsequently worked at the Jacksonville Journal, the Rochester Times Union, and Rochester’s Democrat & Chronicle. In September 1982, when USA Today began publication, Jack Williams served as the weather page editor.In 1992, as Hurricane Andrew battered Dade County, Williams was in the National Hurricane Center, which was on the fringe of the strongest winds. He has flown into three hurricanes and has chased tornadoes with researchers. In January 1999 Williams was one of the half dozen journalists selected by the National Science Foundation to report on research in Antarctica.He is the author of The USA Today Weather Book, which won The American Meteorological Society’s Louis J. Battan Author’s Award, and The USA Today Weather Almanac.