It'll be stop and go for Samantha Davies as NBC5's new weather-proof traffic anchor

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom
NBC5 meteorologist Samantha Davies will now be a roads scholar, too.

The Fort Worth-based station has made her its full-time early morning traffic anchor, filling a position that had been open since longtime "Gridlock Buster" Tammy Dombeck and NBC5 parted ways on July 27th. Davies also will continue her 4:30 to 5 a.m. "First Weather" reports before segueing to highways and byways from 5 to 7 a.m.

News director Susan Tully, in a newsroom memo, said that morning viewers "say they want a newscast that shows how the weather impacts their commute. With our cutting edge weather and traffic technology, Samantha can use her weather expertise to bring this important information to the viewer."

A variety of NBC5 staffers had been filling the traffic cop slot since Dombeck's departure, including Davies and fellow meteorologist Grant Johnston, who recently was named the full-time 5 to 7 a.m. weathercaster.

Davies joined NBC5 in February 2009 from NBC Weather Plus and MSNBC. She is a 2004 graduate of the State University of New York College at Oneonta, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in meteorology.

NOTE TO READERS -- Davies' new position was first reported Friday night on my Twitter account. So if you'd like to be among the first to know the latest, it might not be a bad idea to follow @unclebarkycom.