Until Thursday, Alan Sealls, chief meteorologist at CBS affiliate WKRG-TV in Mobile, wasn't familiar with Reddit. But after he woke up Thursday morning to messages on his Facebook page and emails telling him he was "on Reddit," he quickly became aware of the influence of the popular social media community.

In fact, he's now making plans to participate in one of the website's AMA, or "Ask Me Anything," segments on Tuesday at 2 p.m., with the help of a younger colleague, reporter J.B. Biunno.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Sealls did a weather update that he posted on the station's YouTube channel. "I typically don't post on YouTube because it's so specific to local weather," he said.

But with Hurricane Irma approaching Puerto Rico as a Category 5 storm, followed by Hurricane Jose, and with Hurricane Katia in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, he took four minutes and 15 seconds to explain exactly what was going on.

"I put it there as an archive of something that could be historic, and it took off," he said. "I knew my post would get a few more views than typical, but nothing to this degree."

A Reddit user, "Stellernan7," shared Sealls's video and titled the post "Best weatherman ever, very articulate and educational." Soon, the post was at the top of Reddit's front page. The YouTube video has been viewed 3.4 million times.

Those outside the WKRG viewing area who saw Sealls for the first time in the video compared him to a college professor - which he is. Sealls, a native of Mt. Vernon, N.Y., who moved to Mobile in 1999 and has been at WKRG for 18 years, teaches meteorology at the University of South Alabama each spring, and has also taught at Columbia College in Chicago.

Throughout his career, he has also racked up awards, including eight Emmys and a national award from the American Meteorological Society in 2009 for a series on climate change.

"What's funny is, I teach because it helps me be a better broadcaster, and being a broadcaster helps me be a better teacher," Sealls said. "They're both linked together."

He said he told a close friend who's also a meteorologist that the attention has been "like when kids discover their parents' old jazz albums and say, 'Who is this?'"

In thousands of comments, Sealls has been called "informative and interesting," "amazing," and "my new hero." Commenters praise his delivery, his clear explanation and his lack of drama. "Give this man a raise," someone wrote.

But Sealls has been too busy doing his job to read much of the comments about him. He does know he picked up about 2,000 Facebook followers this week, where he would normally get 5 to 10.

"It's definitely heartwarming to see people positive about something, and to be excited about learning," he said.