All the News That's Fit to Post: Local Weatherman's Joke Causes Confusion

Veteran weatherman and WCCO chief meteorologist Paul Douglas made a reckless, last-minute decision before his evening weathercast at 10:21 on Thursday. After a few powder puffs to the nose from Liz Grafton, the Minnesota station's resident hairdresser, wardrobe consultant and make-up artist, Douglas decided to make an on-air Hurricane Dean joke at the expense of former Vermont governor and '04 Democratic presedential nominee Howard Dean. However, Douglas didn't imagine the impact of his words.

* Douglas, a meteorologist at WCCO since 1998, "went on instinct."

The jibe came before the weathercast's extended 5-day forecast. According to Douglas, who offered a public on-air mea culpa during the station's 6 p.m. broadcast on Friday, he "went on instinct when it came time to give the Hurricane Dean update." On Thursday night, after Douglas, who received a degree in meteorology from Penn State, reported that "Dean's projected course will take it through Jamaica before it touches down in Mexico and onto Texas," the weatherman quickly removed his Navy blue suit jacket, tossed the garment aside, rolled up his white dress shirt's sleeves, and added, "Not only is it going to New Hampshire, it's going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and it's going to California and Texas and New York. And it's going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan, and then it's going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Byaaah!!!"

Towards the end of Douglas's imitation of the infamous rant that Howard Dean made before a crowd in Iowa in 2004, the cameraman cut to WCCO anchor Amelia Santaniello. Douglas could still be heard yelling off camera as Santaniello, the station's evening anchor, stared at the camera with a perplexed look. All she could muster up was a highly audible "Shhhhh!" as she looked to her left before a commercial for a local car dealership, Tom's Twin Cities Toyota, played on viewers' television sets.

* Santaniello, Douglas's WCCO colleague, attempted to shush the weatherman.

Seconds after Douglas's in-studio stunt, WCCO's phones lit up in a frenzy that didn't calm down for approximately 11 hours. Viewers who were confused about the projected path and large scope of Hurricane Dean's destruction called the station for clarification, but many of their attempts went unanswered due to the large volume of incoming calls. What resulted in the greater Twin Cities area was a good number of frantic citizens calling friends and loved ones in the states that Douglas mentioned on air: New Hampshire, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona, North Dakota, New Mexico, California, Texas, New York, South Dakota, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.

One Minnesotan from St. Paul, Libby Dryer, is asking for Douglas's resignation after she suffered a severe panic attack "due to his idiocy," said the 62-year-old widow from her home. "After I heard him [Douglas] mention South Dakota, I immediately called my mother. She's 89 years old and lives there by herself. I was frantic after hearing the news of the hurricane," said a noticeably shaken Dryer. "I didn't know it was a joke. That man should be ashamed of himself. I can only hope that he has the sense to do what's right and resign!"

* Libby Dryer was anything but smiles after watching Douglas's Thursday evening weathercast.

Meteorologists across the U.S. are also sharing Dryer's sentiments. According to Chicago's WGN-9 weatherman Tom Skilling, "Douglas's joke was in poor taste." A longtime champion of the much maligned weathercaster, Skilling has served as an AMS (American Meteorological Society) board member for the past 12 years, brainstorming with fellow members for ways to change the negative public image of the American television meteorologist as a magnetic sun-throwing fool who's always wrong. "The AMS and I have set up great programs like 'Meet Your Meteorologist' in media markets across the country, but Douglas's antics the other night undoubtedly set us back. In my opinion, his joke fell on deaf ears. Most people've forgotten Howard Dean and his speech. It would've been a more timely idea a few years ago, but it still would've been a bad idea. You don't joke about the weather, especially about hurricanes."

* Meteorologist Tom Skilling of Chicago's WGN-9 questions Douglas's comedic timing and taste.

Executives at WCCO have not offered a comment on Douglas's actions, nor have they made any mention of the veteran weatherman's fate at the station. The Douglas debacle hasn't been discussed on WCCO's television or radio airwaves since the meteorologist's 30-second apology at the close of his Friday night forecast when he admitted to putting "a prank before the people's weather needs," something he promised would never happen again.