Five Years of Forecasting the Weather
By Justin Caudell
Although it becomes harder to believe as the days go by, I can remember a time
where I had no idea what the weather was going to be like when I woke up.
Like all the other kids in my class, we could only hope that when we sprung up
from bed at this time of year is that snow would be on the ground and school would
be cancelled. We had no idea if snow was forecasted or much less if it was cold
enough to snow. As a matter of fact, it could show by my attire in middle school that
the temperature outside was far from my mind, I would wear shorts and it would be 25
degrees.
“You can get sick if you go outside dressed like that,” my mom always told me.
“Do you know how cold it is out there?” I always replied with a sense of sarcasm, “No
mother, I don’t”.
As a child, the unknown always fascinated me. I could wonder why the sky was
blue and what the puffy white stuff was above me that seemed to just look like
interesting shapes. I did not mind the surprises of what was going to be happening
outside of my window everyday. What I realized Sunday, January 6 though was that
all of that is simply a memory now.
Five years ago last weekend I started an initiative to bring the world of weather
forecasting to the residents of Cashiers. As I matured in age, I realized that the area I
have come to call home after moving to the Tar Heel State from Florida is that living
in a rural town, news is sometimes hard to come by – no matter how hard you look for
it. Even if you wanted to know the weather, folks in Cashiers could not get an
accurate measure of what was going to fall from the sky. Meteorologists in Asheville
and Greenville could forecast the weather, but could not pin point what was going to
happen outside of their town – this is the mountains after all.
To try and remedy the situation, I started Cashiers Weather Service, with the
slogan “Revolutionizing Meteorology”, the idea that a weatherman could tell its
residing towns what Mother Nature had on her mind – no strings attached.
My beginnings for this new pursuit were by no means easy. I not only had to rely
on my family and others around me to believe in my cause, but also throw in a pretty
penny to buy the technology to make the idea a reality. I also of course had to make
myself believe that it is important to know what to wear before stepping outside.
Luckily for me, once I set my mind towards a goal, I complete it. I also was
fortunate to be a very persuasive person as well.
After gathering a short list of people who were willing to listen to a then 13 year
old boy play around with a few maps and tell them the weather – word of mouth
spread quickly about my adventure, and that what was I predicting was not far from
reality. After all, there is not a day that goes by now where I am not asked “is it going
to rain”, “is it going to snow”, and even a couple times “when should I plan my
wedding”. Contrary from my childhood, it is also my mom who comes to me about the
weather now, not the other way around.
From an oblivious youth to someone who is now called the “weatherman”, I can
only hope that one day I will be on the Weather Channel. My dream probably started
differently from others who are in the profession I hope to obtain, but after all, I will
have quite a story to tell.
I can always say that it started in a small town of about 3,000 people called
Cashiers, that’s “Cash-erz”, not “Cash-ears”, who were willing to put faith in a young
boy who did not have anything but a mouse and a keyboard.