At the other extreme, tropical weather is a constant concern along the coast. Hurricane Hugo, which arrived with great fanfare in September 1989, remains a vivid and painful memory for many Lowcountry residents. Te category 4 storm came ashore near the Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island with sustained winds sustained of 138 mph, gusting to 160 mph. Across the state, 26 people died and 50,000 to 70,000 lost their homes. Tough there’s nothing we can do about violent
weather, other than find a safe place to ride out the storm, it’s comforting to be able to trust a familiar face to bring you the details, calm your frazzled nerves and promise that the sun is going to shine again sometime soon. Te chief meteorologists at Charleston’s local TV stations have a passion for doing just that.
TOM CRAWFORD, WCIV-TV (ABC) Before each of Tom Crawford’s
evening weathercasts on WCIV, a viewer asks, “Hey Tom, how’s the weather?” Tat is a question that, as a young man, Crawford did not imagine he would be answering. He is the Lowcountry’s “accidental” meteorologist. Born in San Diego, Crawford’s father was in the Navy, and he spent part of his childhood in Hawaii. He has lived in the Lowcountry since 1975. In the late 1980s, before the start of his career at WCIV, Craw- ford was serving in the Air Force Reserves as an aerial port specialist. Noticing that WCSC needed a weekend forecaster, he called chief forecaster Charlie Hall and was granted an audition. He began his new career the next weekend. “I knew nothing about the
weather,” Crawford admitted. “I knew that if I was shaking, I was too cold. If I was sweating, I was too hot.” He learned, and, in January
1991, Meteorologist Bill Walsh – then at WCIV– invited Crawford to make the move to the ABC affiliate. Crawford, still a reservist, was activated for Operation Desert Storm, but he later joined WCIV as the forecaster on the station’s new morning show, working part-time there and part-time at
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Tom Crawford has been a
meteorologist with WCIV since 1991.
the Charleston Naval Shipyard. Crawford’s passion for the weather grew, and he
eventually became a certified meteorologist through a program at Mississippi State University. “It’s a very important job, but it’s also a fun job,” said
Crawford. “You get to inform people of what their day could be like. I love forecasting on a day-to-day basis.” As for career highlights, Crawford recalled the snow- fall during the 2010 Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, a narrow miss by Hurricane Floyd in September 1999, tornadoes near Sangaree and Strawberry, and the post- Hugo snowfall on Christmas Day in 1989. Crawford was not forecasting weather during Hurricane
Hugo but experienced it as a Lowcountry resident. Now he considers hurricane forecasting a crucial part of his job, and he tries to balance his viewers’ need for information with their equally important need for reassurance.
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