James Spann keeps himself busy.

Throughout any given day, Spann, the longtime meteorologist for ABC 33/40, could be communicating with more than 1 million of his combined followers on Twitter and Facebook, preparing weather reports for upcoming broadcasts, co-hosting his weekly "WeatherBrains" podcast or driving to the one or two schools per day he still visits.

"I think people would be amazed with how much he packs into a day," said Dave Baird, former 33/40 anchor who retired in 2017.

It can be a lot of work for the 63-year-old Spann, who says he sleeps only three hours a night. And yet, the man who says he has never written a work resume or filled out a job application has a modesty that often belies his work and reputation across Alabama.

"I must be the Forrest Gump of the new millennium or something," Spann wrote in one chapter of his upcoming memoir, "Weathering Life." "I could live my life over thousands of times, and this would never happen again. It is a blessing. And I don’t take it for granted."

"Weathering Life," set to be released June 29 by Crest Publishers, was an effort 10 years in the making for Spann. From being raised by a single mother in Tuscaloosa to tales from his career in broadcast news, the book puts on paper many of the stories he has told while traveling around Alabama.

However, it was not until after the tornadoes that tore through Tuscaloosa and many parts of Alabama on April 27, 2011, that he decided it was time to write everything down.

"You never know why things happened at the time, but later in life, things start to make sense," Spann told The Tuscaloosa News after a recent broadcast at 33/40.

Bill Naugher, CEO of Crest Publishers, said the book shows a part of Spann not many people get to see.

"He just has a unique experience that most people don't know about," Naugher said.

Throughout the book, Spann details his early life in Alabama, how he and his mother moved to Tuscaloosa after his father left and how working at Tuscaloosa's WTBC in 1973 gave Spann his first experience in broadcasting.

Baird came up with Spann at WTBC, where they both worked as disc jockeys. Through the years, their paths would cross again when they both joined 33/40 in 1996.

"I’ll tell you this: From the time I met him, I knew he had ‘it,’ whatever ‘it’ is," Baird said. "You could always tell he was going to have a huge career."

However, "Weathering Life" places just as much emphasis on some of the worst weather that has passed through Alabama over the years. In addition to the 2011 tornadoes and the blizzard of 1993, one storm the book covers is the 1974 "Super Outbreak," the second-largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period from April 3-4, 1974, that killed 315 people across 13 states. Following the storm, Spann traveled to Jasper to report on the damage, leading him to a local hospital to see the dozens of people either dead or injured from the storm.

"That’s the night I lost my innocence," he said. "Those things in your life shape you."

The 2011 tornado still weighs heavily on Spann, not just because of the damage it caused to the city where he grew up, but because of the high number of deaths from the storms. Despite the warnings Spann and others gave leading up to the tornadoes, more than 238 people across Alabama died.

"What I’m trying to do now is trying to memorize the name of every person who died," he said. "That's very motivating for me."

Pam Huff, who first began working alongside Spann at WVTM in 1980 and later at 33/40 where they have worked together ever since, credits Spann with reinventing the way weather was covered in Alabama.

"When he came to do weather at 33/40, management assured him he could stay on the air during wall-to-wall coverage," Huff said. "That had never been done in the market before, and everyone has followed suit ever since."

In a changing media landscape where news organizations constantly fight for people’s attention, Spann admits part of his obsession with work is about self-preservation, but another motivation is about still about trying to prove himself.

"There are some people when I was a kid that would tell me I would be nothing," he said. "I was quiet, had no social skills. I think for anyone, a motivating factor is to overcome the naysayers."

Spann said that through writing a book about his life, he hopes he can encourage other people by reminding them that despite setbacks he had early in his life, he was able to find the life he wanted.

"This is the great secret about James Spann: I’m not the greatest at anything I do," he said. "The secret about me is despite those shortcomings, I will work harder than anyone else to accomplish those goals."

Brenda Ladun, a 33/40 anchor who has known Spann for more than 20 years, considers the longtime meteorologist like the brother she never had.

"He really is who you see on TV, but I think there is even more of a depth there that others don’t see," Ladun said.

Spann does not think too much about his legacy. To him, that will be decided by other people. However, there are some things he hopes are carried through his work, like trying to get more young people involved in science and meteorology or doing what he can to make sure people stay safe during bad weather.

"We’re all here to help other people," he said.

Reach Drew Taylor at drew.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.