Forecast calls for 20-year celebration

There’s a saying that “time flies when you’re having fun.” For me, it’s hard to believe that this week will mark 20 years of weather forecasting with the Coeur d’Alene Press. 

My primary responsibility during this tenure is preparing the daily weather page. The task is required seven days a week, 365 days a year, with deadlines that need to be met.

Admittedly, when I took on this role, I anticipated doing the page for no more than two years. Now, it’s going to be 20 years. 

Fortunately, I’ve had the incredible support of Michelle Bos, the weekend meteorologist at KREM who helps prepare the weather page three days a week. Cliff Harris, even in his early 80s, still provides Coeur d’Alene’s daily temperatures, rain and snow data, plus his historical “weather gems” that highlight some of the big local and national weather events on the date.

 Thanks to reliable data sources and computer programs that have been written for The Press weather page, the preparation, if I stay focused, can take less than 30 minutes. The Internet has also allowed me to prepare and submit the weather page from just about anywhere.

 For example, I have prepared the weather page from moving cars, cruise ships, relatives’ homes, airplanes and the North Idaho State Fair, just to name a few spots. 

The weather page has also been produced from locations across the U.S., Mexico, Europe and Australia. One of the most interesting places it was prepared from was St. Petersburg, Russia back in 2018.  

Despite all the different locations, time zones and Internet availability, Michelle and I have never missed a deadline. However, there were a few occasions when I cut it close.

The page was even prepared from my hospital bed in 2019 after suffering a mild heart attack. When the doctors told me I had to stay overnight, I was yelling for an Internet signal so I could prepare the page.

Many have asked me how long I’ve been interested in the weather. My answer is simple: “Since as long as I can remember.” 

I grew up in Citrus Heights, Calif., a suburb northeast of Sacramento. Snowfall in this area was rare, but I would watch the skies to see if I could see a few snowflakes when there were cold storms.

My television career in weather began in 1977 when I started an internship at KCRA-TV in Sacramento. I was just 14 years old. Starting at that age today, even as an intern, is probably unheard of. 

KCRA was locally owned, and they also had a sister station in Tacoma, Wash., which was KCPQ. Close to my 21st birthday, I was asked to fill in for the main weather person who was off for three weeks to get married. I jumped at the chance and that was my first on-air weather forecast. At that time, I met my late wife, Sally, and things started to fall into place.

I was then doing occasional weather at KCRA. In 1989, I met Cliff and we eventually decided to join forces and work in Vermont. During the seven-year residence near Burlington, I was hired to do the main weather for a new start-up news station, WVNY. That lasted four years. 

In addition to the late nights, I also provided live radio broadcasts early in the morning. The TV gig, the radio, the long-range weather forecasting business, writing local weather almanacs and other ventures made for very long days. My health could not even begin to tolerate a schedule like that today.

After Vermont, Cliff and I decided to relocate to Coeur d’Alene. I arrived in 2004 and obtained the producer position of The Press daily weather page. At the same time, I also was hired by KREM to do the weekend weather. Ironically, I was replacing Michelle Bos, the current weekend meteorologist, who decided to spend more time with her family. 

Sally was hired as a cosmetics counter manager at what is now Macy's when we arrived. In 2010, I taught physical geography at North Idaho College, which turned out to be a very rewarding experience.

In 2016, my life changed drastically. Sally was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and passed away in May 2017. From that point, I retired from teaching and TV weather but continued to do the weather page and weekly science articles for The Press. In 2018, I met Catherine, also widowed, and we’ve been together ever since.

The events I just wrote about are only a small part of what’s happened and one day, I’ll follow up as I’m looking forward to more weather pages and weekly articles. 

I’ll always be grateful to Mike Patrick, the former editor of The Press, Cliff and many others for the incredible opportunities that have been given.

In terms of our local weather, we could see some showers this week and perhaps a few snowflakes mixing in toward the outlying areas. Then, it’s expected to be drier than normal before more showers arrive later next week.

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Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com.