Shaun the Weather Man

Shaun is OBSESSED with the weather. He loves The Weather Channel, watching weather-related TV shows, checking on the radar online and anything else that goes along with the weather. Sometimes I think he was a meteorologist in a past life. I was struggling with what to get him for his birthday since he didn't want me to spend any money. So, I racked my brain and finally came up with what I hoped was a good idea.

I emailed a meteorologist at one of our local TV stations and told him a little about Shaun and how he has informed me on several occasions that if he wins the lottery he'll quit his job and become a meteorologist. Gary Sadowski, from WCAX Channel 3, was very happy to setup a time for Shaun to come in and learn more about what he does.

Today was the day. He had no idea where we were going, what we were doing or why until we pulled in to the TV station parking lot. The look of confusion on his face was pretty priceless. I t

hen asked him if he knew who Gary was and he said "yes, the weather guy at this station." I said, "Yup. And you have a date with him to learn about being a meteorologist. He's going to show you what he does to get ready for the Noon news, watch him do the broadcast and then you will get to talk to him about how he pulls the information and whatever else you want to ask him." I wasn't sure what he was going to think about this adventure but luckily, I could see the excitement appearing on his face as I explained to him why were were there.

So, we headed inside and met "Weather Boy" as he's nicknamed by his co-workers. He showed us a few things as he updated the forecast for the Noon news and showed us a few things about how and where he pulls information. Then, he set us up on the set to watch the broadcast. After the broadcast, he let Shaun play in front of the green screen to test it out. Luckily Gary asked if I had a camera or I would have completely spaced on taking pictures. Here are a few I got with my camera phone...

The Green Screen

Getting his bearings in front of the Green Screen

Taking a chance at presenting the weather. He did well.

Then, when he thought he was all done, Gary told him to advance one more slide.

He had a surprise "forecast" just for Shaun! :)

Afterwards we sat down with Gary and Shaun asked him all types of questions, learned about all the different technologies available for forecasting and all the science and math classes that Atomic Science majors take in school to become meteorologists. It was actually pretty interesting and Shaun knew way more than I would have guessed. I was quite impressed!