Fox25 Meteorologist Makes a Stop At Wayland Council on Aging

Wayland’s Council on Aging Wednesday kicked off its Brown Bag Lunch series with a visit from Fox25 Chief Meteorologist Kevin Lemanowicz.

Lemanowicz began his presentation by explaining the difference between "weathermen/girls" – such as Pat Sajak, Suzanne Somers and David Letterman who all got their start in television weather – and meteorologists.

“There are two types of people on TV and radio doing weather,” Lemanowicz said. “One are scientists and the other have no idea what they’re talking about.”

Lemanowicz is of the scientist ilk and said, for him, meteorologists are “scientists first.”

During his time studying meteorology at Cornell University, Lemanowicz said, he took many of the same math and science courses as engineering students. He didn't not, however, receive the same recruiting offers as those engineering students.

Only the U.S. Air Force was recruiting meteorology students when Lemanowicz graduated, and the armed forces just weren’t for him. So, while he didn't get into meteorology to do television, he found himself doing television weather.

Lemanowicz began his career in Connecticut, and in 1996 headed to Boston to became the first meteorologist hired by Fox25. He’s now been in Boston, the sixth largest television market in the country, for 15 years.

“Here in this area, if you can’t forecast the weather, I think you’re in trouble,” Lemanowicz said, emphasizing the work that goes into the science of meteorology. “We don’t show up at five minutes to 6, comb our hair and jump in front of the camera.”

He said he spends much of his day looking at computer models and analyzing data that is available to him to create a forecast that is as accurate as possible. He admitted, “the science gets stretched at seven days,” but said he can make judgments about trends seven days out, which meets the audiences’ expectation for a seven-day forecast.

During the Q&A period the audience, not satisfied with simple descriptions of nor’easters and blizzards, pressed Lemanowicz on everything from global warming to pressure systems to the television news business to the Coriolis effect, the latter a phenomenon he said affects just about everything when it comes to weather, but is rather complicated and recommended people Google it for details. Here’s the Wikipedia page)

The Brown Bag Lunch Series continues Oct. 12 when speaker Vivian Li, president of the Boston Harbor Islands Association, will discuss her efforts to balance environmental and development interests in the islands along with those of public and private entities. Cost of the three-part Brown Bag series is $15, with dessert and beverage provided.