Winter Blitz '09!

Well technically, it wasn't even winter yet when the big snowstorm hit this past weekend. (The new season began just before 1:00pm on Monday). I think it's safe to say most of us will remember this event for many years to come. Snowfall records were broken across the area as we topped measurements taken during the big storms of 1993 and 1996.

I figured if this snow storm wouldn't make me finally update my blog, nothing would!

A brief "thank you" to the entire staff of WDBJ. All weekend our viewers "saw" Brent and myself in the weather office, as well as our reporters and anchors - but behind the scenes we were propped up by the best crew in the business. Here are a few specific notables.

Cara Stein; producer, NEWS7 at Six & Eleven Saturday & Sunday: Did an excellent job of communicating with me all weekend. Our conversations were always brief, but she kept me in the loop of the "news" angle of the storm, and the flow of the newscast.

Jamey "James" Tompkins; producer, NEWS7 Saturday and Sunday Morning: Never complained when my scheduled 2:30 weather segments ran over by 30 or 40 seconds.

Rob Chewning; NEWS7 photojournalist/editor: For simply saving my butt. It's a long story, but he stayed late and edited "Birthday's and Anniversaries" for me Sunday night. Thanks a million, Rob.

Brent Watts; Meteorologist and friend: For always thinking hours ahead - and never sleeping. Your creative talents are never-ending. You brought our weather coverage to another level.

Henry Bryant, Megan Kanode, Gordon Myers; NEWS7 weekend floor crew: Thanks for the gallons of drinking water you brought to the weather set. Thanks for warming my soup in the break room. Thanks for reminding me to change out of my "PJ's" and into my suit before the newscasts.

Uncle Mike Pettit; NEWS7 audio specialist: For talking to me about something other than the weather - like Memphis.

Paul Manning & Patrick Old; NEWS7 Saturday & Sunday Morning directors: For loving snow coverage and live TV. Nice ideas.

Johnny Tsi; NEWS7 evening shift director: Thanks for rolling with the punches and always saying "yes".

There are many, many others. Our news director and managing editor came in on their day off. Their leadership was nice; but they paid for pizza - twice - and that was even better! Many, many staff members worked on their normal days off. Kelly Zuber and Natasha Ryan were just a couple. Thanks to Robin Reed for his live phoner from beautiful Twin Cedars, and to Leo Hirsbrunner for his incredibly accurate snow forecast prior to the first flake falling. (It takes guts to slap up a graphic with 18"+ when you haven't seen a storm this big in 14 years!) Thanks to all the NEWS7 photographers who brought back great storm video. Most of it made CBS national news. Master control never skipped a beat, and often came out to the studio just to check on us - that means a lot. Thanks to all the folks who ran audio and chyron all weekend. No mics clipped, no graphics misspelled - at least as far as I could hear/see. Thanks to all those (engineering staff and others) who kept the dishes cleared of snow so we could keep receiving weather data. Thanks to traffic for carving our time for all those cut-ins.

Virginia State Police and VDOT also kept NEWS7 updated with traffic and road information all weekend. Thanks to them.

A very special "thanks" goes out to the men and women who plowed (and are still plowing) our streets and highways. Excellent work.

Finally, my wife. Sorry I was gone all weekend. You will be rewarded on Christmas.

There are others, and I thank you. You are all "Storm Heroes". It's great to work with such a dedicated group of professionals. All I do is clip a mic on my tie, but everyone else makes the world go-round; makes the whole thing happen. Let's do it again - in another 14 years!?!

Day Out With Thomas

Our son Parker absolutely LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine. Last Friday we spent the "Day Out With Thomas" at the North Carolina Museum of Transportation. Parker loved it; but my dad, Sarah and I enjoyed it just as much. If your child or grandchild likes "Thomas", I highly recommend it! The museum is located at the former Southern Railway shops in Spencer, NC, about a 45 minute drive south of Winston-Salem. Besides the train ride aboard Thomas, there were lots of activities for children to enjoy. Above are a few pictures we took of our trip. Hope you enjoy! --Jay

Hurricane Hugo: 20 Years Later

It's the 20 year anniversary of Hurricane Hugo coming ashore just north of Charleston, SC. There are many TV meteorologists who site this storm for sparking their lifelong interest in weather; I'm no exception. I vividly remember our family vacation to Myrtle Beach in 1989, only to watch the news a few weeks later and see the destruction the storm caused. It was Robin Reed's coverage of tracking the remnants of Hugo into Virginia that made me decide as a 12 year old I wanted be become a broadcast meteorologist (on WDBJ). I recall moderate to heavy rain in Giles County as the storm passed. There was no school that day because of impassable roads and lost power.

Hugo was a category four storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane intensity scale at landfall with winds near 140mph. The storm underwent rapid intensification over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream in the hours leading up to landfall, which occurred at Sullivans Island, SC in the early morning hours of September 22. The storm would cause $7 billion in damages in the U.S.; another $3 billion in the Caribbean. Hugo struck at high tide, making the 12-15 foot storm surge even worse. Some surge was reported over 20-feet, the highest tidal surge ever along the U.S. east coast. Heavy rain fell. Edisto Island, SC received over 10". Several inches were reported in southwest Virginia as well.

I was in Myrtle Beach just about a month ago. Twenty years later, it appears vacationers have long forgotten about the storm. However, a small photo album in the leasing office of our condo shows residents think about it often. The album, simply titled "Hugo, 1989" is full of old pictures showing the damage. A reminder of a storm that won't soon be forgotten by the residents of the Palmetto State.

(Pre)School Days Are Here

After a summer of much anticipation, Parker has started preschool. I took the day off last Wednesday so my wife and I could drop him off, and then pick him up when the day was done. He did great; but the day was harder on my wife. When we drove to the unloading area of his school, and his teacher came to get him out of his car seat, he asked, "Mommy, will you take me inside?" An innocent enough question, and one we had prepared for, but instead of letting the teacher whisk him away, my wife hopped out of the car and disappeared into the school for the better part of 20 minutes. When she returned (with a tear in her eye), I asked why she caved in to Parker's request. I was promptly told to stuff it. It was a quiet ride back to our house.

Three hours later, we returned to Parker's preschool to pick him up. I'll never forget the smile on his face. He ran toward our car, jumped in and said, "Mommy and daddy, I had a great day - it was lots of fun!" I was by far more emotional when we picked him up than when we dropped him off.

A week later, he's already learned so much. He's talking about his new friends, bringing home homework (a.k.a. busy work for parents), and bragging about the awesome sandbox at his school. It's truly amazing how much he's blossomed in just a few days.

We'll sit back and enjoy the ride. Before you know it, it'll be time for kindergarten, high school, then college. On a side note, my wife and I had a meeting last night with our financial planner. He says we should be saving about $300 a month NOW for Parker's college education! On that note, I'm ending this blog and going to sale some lemonade at $0.25 a cup.

Busy Summer

It's been a busy summer, and my blog has fallen behind. My mom has reminded me of this several times the last week; so here's an update, complete with a picture of her!

Here are a few highlights of the summer:

• Planned to have a big yard sale and clean out my garage. That never happened. Garage still full of junk.
• Had a relaxing vacation at Myrtle Beach. I can never get there often enough, but it's always good to see the sand! I gained seven pounds in a week. Thankfully, I've lost all that at this point.
• Our dog Niles slipped a disc in his back. He's been on steroids. Just today he pulled up limp again. I called the vet and made another appointment for him. Hopefully he'll mend.
• We (NEWS7) extensively covered the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Camille. The storm flooded Nelson County in 1969. It was interesting to go back through old photos and video of the aftermath. I met some very knowledgeable people who lived through that part of our state's history. Overall: fascinating.
• Michael Jackson died. I bought a lot of his music and put it on my iPod.
• Michael Vick got out of jail and will make 1.6 million this year. Washing machines deserve second chances - not him.
• I cleaned my wife's SUV and found four happy meal toys, three empty cans of hair spray, a dead cell phone, and a little over five dollars in change.
• Celebrated my parents' 35th wedding anniversary.
• Celebrated my mom's 39th birthday (again). See picture above of Parker with "Gung" and "Crank" taken last week at The Farmhouse in Christiansburg.

As you can tell, it's been a busy few months. As we gear up for fall, my schedule gets little rest. Big things will happen in September. I promise to keep you informed on this blog over the next few weeks. Be good! --Jay

Sometimes, you just have to laugh!

48 hours after the fact, it was brought to my attention that something was very wrong with my live shot on the SkyTracker7 Weather Deck last Thursday. NEWS7 Lynchburg newsroom chief Tim Saunders told me his mom was watching NEWS7 at Noon that day, and noticed something weird. Above are a few screen grabs from the newscast. Can you see the mistake? Look at the microphone. Somehow, someway, the "cube" or "mic flag" was put on upside down. If you caught this on Thursday, good for you! No one here noticed it - including me.

Hope you have a great week! Thanks for watching Your Hometown Station - WDBJ7.

Salem plays host to the Diner

(NEWS7 photographer Rob Chewning standing in the bed of a pickup truck getting the perfect shot for the Weekend Diner. Kroger Chef Steve Alls and I on the "Chef's Circle" set)

If you're a regular viewer of NEWS7 Sunday Morning, you've likely seen our Weekend Diner segment. If not, you're missing out! One of the coolest things I get to do in my job is host this part of the newscast. Each Sunday, people cook for me - what could be better? Those who know me best know I love weather, but the Weekend Diner segment allows me stand away from meteorology for a few minutes every week and clear my mind!

This past Saturday, NEWS7 photographer Rob Chewning and I drove over to Salem to shoot a segment with Kroger Chef Steve Alls. We set up our camera at the Salem Farmer's Market on the "Chef's Circle" set. "Chef's Circle" is a creative idea the city came up with several months ago while demolishing some houses in a flood plain. From one of the houses that was slated to be torn down, crews ripped out an actual kitchen, put it on a trailer with hydraulics, painted it up, and now has local chef's such as Steve cook and entertain crowds every weekend. The set is complete with running water, a stove and a refrigerator.

I could tell "Chef's Circle" is a big crowd pleaser. If you have the chance, I highly recommend you bring a lawn chair and watch local chef's do their thing each Saturday now though the end of August (note: no Chef's Circle this weekend per July 4). The chef's will prepare recipes using ingredients from the farmer's market. They'll also answer your questions, plus you'll be able to taste the dish!

Thanks to Mike Stevens (former NEWS7 Sports Director now Communications Director for Salem) and Beth Carson (Salem Horticulturist and Market Director) for allowing us the opportunity to showcase Chef's Circle!