There’s a reason Edgar McGregor chooses his words with precision. For three years, he’s restrained himself from using words such as “extreme” or “unprecedented.”
Even as the number of followers on his Altadena Weather and Climate Facebook page grew, McGregor, 24, told one interviewer: “You don’t want to go out and say the biggest storm of your life is coming to kill you.”
So when the Pasadena climate activist and meteorologist stood in the middle of his street at 6:30 p.m. and filmed the Eaton Fire eating up the hills behind him, people listened.
“This is imminent! Do not wait for an official evacuation notice. If you think you should leave, get out! Get out!” he told them.
Residents in Altadena and Pasadena, including followers of McGregor’s X feed on social media, started packing up valuables and warning neighbors, parking their cars facing the street for easier exits. More than 1,000 people have signed up on Facebook, crediting McGregor’s early warning for saving their lives, said fellow environmentalist Susan Hopkins of Pasadena.
On Monday, Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, formally recognized McGregor for his “quiet but dogged heroism,” and lifesaving wildfire storm information that saved thousands of lives during the Eaton Fire.
“Make no mistake, his warnings helped countless people and families flee to safety,” Chu said.
McGregor’s measured micro-weather forecasts didn’t overhype storms and over the years, people from neighbors to fellow hikers noticed he didn’t sensationalize his predictions, which garnered him more and more followers.
“The trust he had built up with his community helped thousands realize that his warnings leading up to and on the night of January 7th, were real and warranted immediate action,” Chu said.
His mother Melinda remembered she was mid-bite at dinner that night when her youngest child walked in, phone in hand, and told her they had to leave.
“I was not going to tell him no,” she said. They collected paperwork, photos, and the family’s three cats, Pascal, Louis and Seamus, before driving to South Pasadena, where McGregor continued to monitor the fire.
He followed his first post, at 7:17 p.m., with another at 10:22 p.m., telling residents in the foothills to pull an all-nighter: “The fire danger is sky high. Everyone in Altadena, even the western side, should prepare to evacuate.”
Given the severity of the wildfire in Altadena and the delay in an evacuation order in the western side of town, Chu said McGregor potentially saved countless residents’ lives. Altadena residents Jen Seifert and Nicole Sasaki both posted online, writing that because they listened to McGregor’s warnings, they evacuated hours before the official order came down.
McGregor said he was just doing his job and lifelong passion.
“In kindergarten, I’d ask to go to the restroom during a rainstorm so I can watch the rain,” he said. “I’ve always loved the way weather gets people out of their bubble, for better or worse.”
His mother recalls him always enamored with weather, statistics and accumulating data.
“It’s what he wants to talk about,” she said. “When he was younger, if it rained, he’d run outside, he wouldn’t take an umbrella and he wouldn’t listen when I’d tell him to wear rain boots.”
At age 9, he picked San Jose State for its excellent environmental science and climate science program. McGregor graduated from La Salle College Preparatory in Pasadena in 2018 and attended Pasadena City College before indeed earning his bachelor’s degree in climate science from San Jose State University in 2023.
Two weeks after the fire, his alma mater lauded how McGregor’s “trusted advice and unwavering commitment to his community highlight the immense power of knowledge, action, and leadership in times of crisis.”
McGregor’s parents (his father is a software engineer and his mother an accountant) surmise their love for old homes and renovations sparked a passion for saving and restoring things in their son.
His homegrown #EarthCleanUp reports on X, detailing his more than five years cleaning up Eaton Canyon launched a worldwide garbage-pickup campaign. That project gained him television network interviews and coverage, but none like the attention he’s getting now.
Hopkins, a certified California Naturalist and docent at Eaton Canyon Nature Center, met McGregor five years ago. She said the quirky kid she met at 19 deserves all the accolades.
“He’s very dedicated and knowledgeable, he’s my peer,” she said. “He is also the sweetest, kindest person and I am always impressed with him.”
For now, McGregor remains on staff with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. People can sign up for his hyperlocal weather forecasts on patreon.com/WeatherMcGregor, covering Pasadena, Altadena, Sierra Madre, Monrovia, Alhambra, San Marino, La Cañada, Duarte and Arcadia.
His Facebook followers burgeoned from 2,500 at the beginning of the year to now more than 4,500.
Chu pointed out McGregor’s posts months before the Eaton Fire predicted not only the fire’s likely path but also warned of the same weather conditions days before that also existed in Lahaina, Hawaii and Paradise, in the Sierra Nevadas, before the wildfires there. On Monday, she and McGregor discussed the need for a national non-thunderstorm windstorm scale.
Science proves we are not immune from the forces of nature, but we could certainly forecast and learn from information we glean from it, McGregor said.
“I think what I’m most afraid of not returning after the fires is people’s sense of security,” McGregor said. “Every now and again I’ll run into people who are still experiencing trauma from the 1993 Kinneloa Fire, and this fire destroyed 50 times as many homes and structures. Those who remain will always be fearful of Santa Ana windstorms. That’s not going to return, that sense of safety.”
As for forecasting his own trajectory, McGregor said he is staying put at this spot in the planet, if only to help people get a better handle on what’s fascinated him for so long.