I got to work this afternoon as thunderstorms were firing. No surprise there. They had been well forecast by me (and everyone I would hope). As the afternoon progressed the storms increased in intensity until, just before 6:00 PM, we went to a Tornado Warning for Fairfield and New Haven Counties.
It might be different in the Midwest, but here we go wall-to-wall with Tornado Warnings and so we dropped what was scheduled for our newscast and began to do live weather.
When you start live coverage, you have no idea how long it will last--I certainly didn't. Ten minutes in, Gil Simmons (our morning meteorologist) came in. He wasn't dressed for TV, but he strapped on a mic and helped out off-camera. I can't begin to tell you how helpful he was.
By the time we rejoined regular programming, I'd been on-the-air live for a little over an hour straight. It was all ad lib for me... and everyone else. You've got to remember, the producers, director and crew were trying to make sure we were all heading in the same direction, though we really couldn't speak directly to each other. They were amazing--probably more than they realize.
I don't think there were any tornadoes this afternoon. I'd rather have it work out that way. But while it was happening, who could tell?
WTNH coverage was excellent..The only thing was that Comcast interrupted with EAS appearing on the digital converter box and instead of Channel 8, the QVC channel appeared.....Where we suppose to shop during the storm?
I'm in Stratford and that was as bad as I've seen it. Heavy wind...blinding rain....sustained hail up to a quarter in size....incredibly vivid lightening. You and Gil did a great job. Correct me if I'm wrong but its incredibly rare to get that kind of storm so close to the coast. Doesn't the marine layer usually reduce the severity of a thunderstorm?
You and your coworkers did a great job reporting. It's amazing to think you all just "roll" with the situation--each doing their part to keep the viewers informed. The live cameras with the wind and the almost pitch black sky were just amazing...You brought it all to us without causing a panic. Thanks to you and yours for always "being there" at WTNH...
As usual, great coverage, Geoff & Gil & and producers....I too had to endure periodic Comcast EAS redirects to QVC.
Good work, Geoff, and kudos to thee entire crew. You could actually see the production values go up as time went on.