This wonderful human is Gary England.
And he was the Chief Meteorologist for Channel 9 in Oklahoma City, a position he held from 1972 till my birthday this year, 8/28/2013.
Back in the day, before Channel 9, he had tracked storms from a tiny attic office with a primitive radar repurposed from the nose of an airplane. And very early in his career, he was notorious for issuing public Tornado Warnings before the National Weather Service.
He was the first on-air meteorologist to alert his viewers of a possible tornado using a commercial Doppler Weather Radar, which improved tornado-warning times from a single minute, to more than 20 minutes.
He is also known for contributing to the invention of the First Warning map graphic commonly used to show ongoing weather alerts without interrupting regular programming.
A former governor of the state has described him as “Omnipresent, like the clouds and the Sun.”
As the voice of public safety for roughly the last 2,000 tornadoes, he has saved countless lives with his calm reassurances and advice. He was even able to comfort, through the television screen, children who had been left alone in storms during Oklahoma's severe weather seasons. He's also educated Oklahoman's about our own psycho weather, and mentored numerous young meteorologists.
In the eyes of most Oklahoman's, England is less a meteorologist and more a living legend and a benevolent Weather God who routinely saved everyone’s asses.He's a pop culture icon in OKC and has become almost a cult like figure! With a drinking game for his broadcasts to both Severe and Winter weather, even!
Awards:
- 3 Emmy Awards
- National RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award for breaking news/weather (2009)
- Oklahoma Hall of Fame
- Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame
- Governor's Humanitarian Award (1999)
- Silver Circle Award
If Oklahoma could speak, it would speak in the voice of Gary England.
AND HE FOLLOWS ME ON TWITTER!!!!!!!!!!
