Clayton was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 29, 1950. As a youngster, he was a longtime member of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1967 Clayton was selected by his district to report on the status of Scouting in America to President Lyndon Johnson. After his high school graduation, Clayton enrolled in Brigham Young University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1974 and his master’s degree in 1975, both in the field of geography.
During the years he worked as an on-air weatherman, Clayton also taught science, geography, and journalism in middle school. His first teaching assignment was at Springville Junior High in 1975 in Springville, Utah, where he worked between 1975 and 1978. Between 1978 and 1984, Clayton took a break from teaching, returning to the profession to teach at Springville in 1984. In 1986, he transferred to Eisenhower Junior High in Taylorsville, Utah. Clayton has also served as an adjunct instructor of geography at Brigham Young University starting in 1989 and at the University of Utah beginning in 2005. He has also written scientific articles and doctrinal books for the Mormon Church.
This gifted educator retired from his thirty-one-year career in the teaching profession in 2012.