Weekend meteorologist Jerrid Sebesta is leaving KARE-TV to spend more time with family and slow down the pace of life, he said Saturday.

Sebesta said he wants to spend more time with his wife Emily, and their 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. They are moving to South Dakota, in large part to be closer to his mother, who lives in Watertown, S.D., he said.

"I'm so excited," he said. "My wife and I met in Sioux Falls. I started my TV career there, and my wife and I just fell in love with South Dakota a decade ago."

Sebesta, 35, joined the KARE 11 weather team in January 2010. He became the weekend meteorologist in July 2011.

Born and raised in Montevideo, Minn., Sebesta said most of their family and friends live in southwestern Minnesota and in eastern South Dakota.

He's been happy at KARE, he said, but no offer the station could make can keep him from going.

"It's just an unbelievable feeling to walk away voluntarily at the peak of my career into something that is best for our family," Sebesta said.

Joy Powell