NATCHEZ &045;&045; During commercials on The Weather Channel, 11-year-old Matthew Posey flips the channel to CNN.

If there’s a commercial on the news station too, then maybe he’ll settle for SpongeBob SquarePants, but it won’t be long before he’s back to The Weather Channel.

It’s been that way for about 10 years his aunt, Geneva Reynolds said.

The McLaurin Elementary sixth-grader said it was all the weather and news coverage that gave him the know-how to win his class geography bee, his school’s bee and place in the Top 10 at the state bee.

Last week, on April Fool’s Day, Posey, Reynolds and teacher Evelyn Jeter went to Pearl to compete with 87 fourth- through eighth-graders in the Mississippi Geographic Bee.

To carry out the true duty of April Fool’s Day, Posey returned to school and told his classroom teacher he’d won the whole bee.

Pranks aside, Posey’s fifth-place finish was enough to make Reynolds and Jeter very proud, they said.

At the state competition, Posey answered eight questions, got six of them right and fumbled up on naming the countries that contain Himalayan mountains &045;&045; China and Nepal do, Iran does not,

&uot;Boy were they tough,&uot; Posey said about the questions. &uot;I was nervous.&uot;

The nerves were something Reynolds said she noticed in her nephew once the Top 10 questioning started.

&uot;He got nervous, I could see it,&uot; Reynolds said. &uot;He was up there with seventh- and eighth-graders.&uot;

The classroom bee was much easier, he said, though he did face some formidable competition.

&uot;Tyler Nations, he was a tough competitor,&uot; Posey said of his McLaurin classmate. &uot;I let him wear my medal.&uot;

In addition to winning the school bee, Posey had to take a written test to qualify for the state bee, but once at the event the questions were given orally.

Though he didn’t win the $25,000 college scholarship, he did win bragging rights at home and a T-shirt and certificate.

The A and B student, who prefers math over other subjects, wants to be a meteorologist when he grows up, a goal he set as a toddler.

He is the son of Maria Posey and the grandson of Lucille Posey.

Robert Lewis Middle School student Chantelle Knight won her school bee and also competed in the state bee.

The state winner was an eighth-grader from Union who also won the competition last year.

The bee is sponsored by National Geographic magazine.