For more than 30 years, the Doppler 9&10 Weather team has had the help of the “Weather Watchers” to give us an inside look of what is going on outside their windows. While our weather team is in the studio, our weather watchers are able to relay real-time and accurate readings to us about what’s going on in the areas in which they live. Some of these watchers have started recently, while others have been helping us since the beginning. In this series, we will highlight the people who give us the weather in their region every morning!
RELATED: See previous Weather Watcher profiles here.
What is your name and hometown?
Keith in Hawkins, Barton Township.
How long have you been a weather watcher?
TomTemp (so named after then student Tom Bryant) built fall of 2007. Tom approached me with the idea when I mentioned the difficulty monitoring the status of my wood burner. Of course, as is typical of engineers, we overdesigned the project! Tom built the hardware and the Java interface, I wrote the code for the processing of the data and developed a webpage for displaying it. Started sending temps to then MTM meteorologist Jim Lehocky in February of 2010, adding automated emailing of the outdoor temperatures recorded by TomTemp to weather@9and10news.
What has been your favorite/craziest weather event you have experienced?
Hurricane Hugo went directly over our house, my wife and children were home alone as I was “exploring” Hugo at sea.
How did you get interested in weather?
It impacts our life in so many ways. Primary interest began during sea service (U.S. Navy).
Have you always lived in Northern Michigan? If not, where else have you lived?
Retired to what was previously hunting property upon retirement from U.S. Navy in 1996. Grew up in the metro Detroit area (including Roseville, Warren, Royal Oak and Brighton). While in Navy lived in: Kenosha WI, Orlando FL, Ballston Spa NY, Summerville SC, Saratoga Springs NY, and then back in Summerville SC.
Besides weather, what hobbies do you like to do?
Watching TV and “working” with my dog Winna.
What’s your favorite season?
Winter.