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One of the members of the weather community in roanoke lynchburg was critically injured this morning when his car crossed into the center lane of Route 122 and struck another truck. Jamey Singleton Of WSET (ABC) was airlifted to roanoke memorial hospital in critical condition . later this afternoon his condition is now serious a little bit of an upgrade .

Jamey had a rough past but has battled back

w could have forecasted that weatherman Jamey Singleton would ever return to the Roanoke and Lynchburg airwaves.

Six years ago, Singleton suffered a fall from grace that was as embarrassing as it was public. He lost his job as a meteorologist at WSLS (Channel 10) in 2006 for violating the station's "morals clause" after a seminude photo of him appeared on a friend's MySpace page. That happened just months after it was revealed that he and fellow WSLS meteorologist Marc Lamarre battled heroin addictions, news that made headlines for months.

Singleton vanished from Roanoke newscasts, but he didn't go away. A Rocky Mount native, he returned home to Franklin County and took jobs at small cable channels and wrote his own weather blog.

"I had a choice of hiding or moving forward," he said. "The only choice was to move forward."

Sunday night, just a couple of weeks after the sixth anniversary of his WSLS dismissal, Singleton will return to the Roanoke-Lynchburg airwaves when he does the weather on WSET (Channel 13) at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.

"It's going to feel strange," Singleton said this week. "It's like I've been able to get a second chance after everything. It's been a real blessing."

Singleton, 34, won't be a full-time meteorologist at the Lynchburg-based ABC affiliate. He was hired as a behind-the-scenes web producer, who will appear occasionally on camera, which is fine with him.

"I don't want to be on the air," he said. "I just want to be in the newsroom again."

A decade ago, Singleton had the makings of being a longtime Roanoke television news star. As a young meteorologist at WSLS, his effervescent personality and boyish charm beamed from the screen like sunshine on a clear, blue day. His hometown twang and undeniable passion for the weather made him a popular weatherman and host at public events.

Doing the weather at WSLS was a dream come true for Singleton, who used to do the weather for Franklin County High School's TV news show in the mid-1990s, back when his friends called him "little Bill Meck," in honor of Channel 10's top weather guy at the time.

One time, he even shot video of golf ball-sized hail for Meck's 11 p.m. weathercast. He also was a teenage weather anchor for Franklin County's Cable 12 morning newscast, "Rise 'n' Shine."

When he was let go by WSLS, Singleton decided to stay put and try to rebuild his life and his career. It was like starting from the beginning.

He rented a place near Smith Mountain Lake before eventually moving in with his father in Rocky Mount to help him after a surgery. Singleton went back to doing the weather on Cable 12 in 2007 for his old boss Steve Oakes. He also worked for a public access channel in Martinsville. He provided radio forecasts for WFJX-AM (910 and wrote his blog. Anything to stay in touch with meteorology.

"It was like being in high school," Singleton said. "You had to do everything. One minute, I was doing the weather, then next I was a cameraman or a reporter or I was at a community event."

Singleton's Channel 13 hiring happened because of his longtime relationship with WSET general manager Randy Smith and news director Bill Foy, both of whom were at WSLS in the 1990s when Singleton was an intern there. Singleton has met with Smith and Foy numerous times over the past five years, but Smith was reluctant to bring Singleton on board until now.

"Jamey has been talking with us for several years and we have been monitoring his progress, as well as coaching him and helping him to get his career moving again," Smith said.

"Being somewhat of a cynic, I had serious concerns at first, but I have to say, Jamey is the most humble, contrite and changed individual that I have ever come across. â? I remember stating then that he was either a completely changed young man or else the best actor I had ever seen. After years of watching him maintain his demeanor, I am convinced that it is time for us all to look to the future, not the past."

Singleton said that he has passed drug tests at WSET and he calls his recovery from heroin addiction a "continual process." He is more open about his faith in God and his spiritual awakening.

"I have grown spiritually," Singleton said. "I don't see happenings as just coincidences. I think there is a reason for things. I don't think God made things happen just because, I think there's a bigger calling. For a couple of years, it was all about getting back on the air. Then, I just exhaled, relaxed and decided to let things fall where they may. If it's God's will, it's God's will.

"Bill and Randy have given me their trust and confidence. Hopefully, in time, I can gain the viewers' trust and confidence, as well."

SourCe Roanoke.com

So this being said jamey has battled hardship before and he will again . Jamey and i have talked on facebook weather and he is vey knolegeable . A good forecaster . Im sure he will recover and be back air . till then we all are praying for him

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