In Boone, NC, nobody checks the weather app — they check Ray’s Weather. Dr. Ray Russell is the founder of RaysWeather.Com, the most trusted forecast in the High Country of North Carolina, and he's entirely self-taught. He spent three decades teaching computer science at Appalachian State University while a backyard weather station and a few snow forecasts posted to his faculty page quietly grew into a regional institution. Today it's read daily by families, schools, businesses, and emergency crews across northwest North Carolina.