McCartney, a fast summer and friends.

For Father’s Day this year, my boys got me the new Paul McCartney CD, Memory Almost Full and a Bobby Flay grilling cookbook. Both items are special because they took the time to purchase such thoughtful gifts. Besides my passion for cooking on weekends, I’m a hopeless McCartney fan. Upon first play, the CD was OK but the artwork and liner notes were almost nonexistent. As an old Beatles fan, I cherished the album covers, lyrics and anything extra we could find to give us a behind the scenes glimpse of the group. This thing was weak. Until I realized that McCartney was sending us to his web site where we find not only the lyrics but short audio clips and HIS THOUGHTS BEHIND THE SONGS. Now the tracks jumped to life! How cool it is for a 64 year-old British rocker to be so modern.

A recent visit to Kiawah Island, SC allowed me the opportunity to catch up with fellow meteorologist Bill Walsh. He is the chief meteorologist at WSCS in Charleston, SC. I met Bill years ago at a weathercaster’s workshop in Lyndonville, VT. It was at the 7 day seminar for TV weather-folks that several of us developed friendships that last to this day. The chance to see Bill and meet his family was special. So was the bottle of wine he brought me back from France.

Finally a big thank you to all the Roanoker Magazine readers who voted Robin Reed and SkyTracker 7 Weather as the most accurate forecast. After years of winning Roanoke’s Sexiest Man, I take real pride in this award. We will work hard to keep your trust.

Beach Clouds

Have you noticed the cool clouds over our area recently? With the setting sun, the towering cumulus look spectacular. Almost like you were at the beach. In fact, the wind flow for the last week has been from the northeast. This is a little unusual. The atmosphere has been unstable enough to produce severe thunderstorms. Mainly due to large hail.

Get the number right!

A recent email that I sent to Roanoke Times columnist Joe Kennedy about problems with local phone books:

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Hi Joe,

Hope all is well with you.

Your recent columns on the phone books were interesting. But I would settle for phone book/books that have correct listings.

Our latest dilemma? One of the directories has the WDBJ Weather Department number (777 3265) listed as the Roanoke County non-emergency police number (which is actually 562 3265)

The confusion seems to stem from the fact that most Roanoke County police numbers do indeed start with 777.

Needless to say, this has resulted in some interesting phone calls, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

Some hang up immediately after we answer "Weather Department" and immediately call back, over and over and over as if somehow they'll get the right connection eventually.
Some hear our greeting, pause and then tell us their story anyway. As soon as the caller says "I have a restraining order on my husband" we politely interrupt and get them the police number.
Some are completely amused by this mistake and insist on sharing their needs and concerns without any desire to connect with police. Perhaps they think the TV station is their advocate.

Who knows, maybe some day we will get a breaking story. But I doubt it. I hope the 2008 phone books do better!

Warmest regards,

Robin John Reed, CBM
Chief Meteorologist
WDBJ-Digital Television

Update Your Blog!

Ok Jim, you’re right. I haven’t been updating my blog often enough. Jim is a good friend and an even better meteorologist in Memphis. I’ll let the readers check out WREG’s web site and figure out who Jim is. Anyway he makes a good point. Folks use blogs to stay connected because we are often far flung. But it’s hard for us older folks to remember to write them. We are pretty good with email but my youngest son informed me rather curtly recently that email is old school. All things cellular are in. Text message dad. Heck, the keys are so small on my phone I have trouble pressing the right ones to make a text message. Then I sign them "Dad". My son laughs again. Dad, I know it’s you. It came from your cell phone. And to think that around the Roanoke Valley today, hundreds of young folks graduated high school and they are our future. And they can text message. I wonder what the new thing will be next year. Sigh.

Did you miss the Bedford Strawberry Festival this year? Apparently it was earlier than past years but it was great fun for the whole family. A record crowd on Saturday. Put it on your calendar for next year. You can pick your own berries if you like.

Mean looking cloud!

Check out this mean looking cloud caught by a cell phone camera on May 12th in the Buchanan area. Note carefully the white area between the tree and the red sign. What do you see?

It's not a tornado. But the winds associated with this storm were strong and some areas received a lot of hail.

You are looking at a rain shaft. A strong downburst of rain and wind which can be damaging. The folks that took this picture were in a greenhouse. They felt this was an unsafe location so they jumped in their car. Unfortunately that was not a great choice. If it had been a tornado, the car might have been a deathtrap. As it turned out, everyone is safe. We are heading for the time of year when storms can be very strong in our region. Keep an eye on the sky and be safe.

School Field Trip

May is a really busy month for us in the SkyTracker 7 Weather Department. So when Effinger Elementary asked if we could pay them a visit and talk weather, we had to decline. But when we suggested they come visit us, the field trip was on! The second and third grade class made the trip. We enjoyed their enthusiasm and I think they had a great time on the tour.

Brent Watts and I played tag-team weather demonstration. Wonder why I had to do all the heavy pumping on the cloud experiment?

Off to the Chili Cook-Off on Saturday where the warmest things will be the peppers in the Chili. Expected high temperature: 59.

Have a good weekend!!

An open letter to the News 7 crew

This past Monday, I really expected the lead story to be about the weather. Winds were howling with gusts to 70mph. Eventually the power went out to more than 50,000 people. I was visiting a group at St Paul's Episcopal church when the news bulletin's began. Something was horribly wrong at Virginia Tech. First came word of a student shot. Then came word of a suspect in custody. As I wrapped up the visit during the lunch hour, a call on the cell phone. The latest report: 22 dead. That can't be right. It just can't be. It must be 2 dead. Even that sounded impossible. As I arrived at work, Keith and Jean were in the studio with wall to wall coverage of the breaking news. The next news conference brought the unspeakable news. 33 dead including the killer. The gasp in the newsroom was audible. My services would not be needed on this day. Howling wind was nothing compared to the tears and wailing coming from Virginia Tech. As I looked around the newsroom, everyone was on task. There was no idle chatter. The phone lines rang constantly. And I mean constantly. At any given moment, we had 5 or 6 live shots arriving in the control room. Our images were being broadcast worldwide on CNN and other media outlets. Our audio was carried on WFIR and Q99. The most experienced broadcast news staff in southwest Virginia was doing their job. I found tears flooding into my eyes on a regular basis. Keith, Jean, Rachel, Alex, Justin, Hollani, Natasha, Susan, Joe, Joy stood up and reported what they knew. Then they hit the road and learned more. But the one who stood tallest was Rachel.

She was in the hot seat because this is her bureau. She had the contacts. She had the knowledge of the campus. Rachel had to stand there for days and report on a disaster. She did it with class even when emotions overwhelmed her. I leave work Friday night with a heavy heart, a new Virginia Tech tie and the confidence that I work for the best news organization in Virginia. No one wanted to report this news. But as our assignment editor said as he left work at the end of a devastating week:

It's been a long week and we're all tired but I wanted to say:
Be proud of who you are.
Be proud of the work you did this week.
Be proud of the people you did it for-- the people of Virginia Tech and Southwest Virginia.