An amateur weatherman

Life in a small town presents opportunities. Generally, the real pros live and work in cities so you can perform and even get paid for services that otherwise would go to more experienced people. In the 1980s, Crested Butte had no professional weathermen. Gary to the rescue!

Well, not really… I’m a powder-hound. So I decided I wanted to learn more about what brings snow to Crested Butte. I studied a textbook and consulted with more weather-educated people. The editor of our local newspaper, Lee Ervin, knew that his audience cared a lot about this topic and offered me a pittance to write a weekly column.

This was before the world wide web brought easily accessible weather information to everyone. I struggled to gather the info. Also, a weekly column is not so great for a weather column. I turned in my copy on Wednesday by noon and the paper was not in people’s hands until late Thursday or Friday. So I focussed less on forecasts and more on explanation and color commentary.

The column ran for three winters. Here are a few examples.

The Weather Outlook; Crested Butte Chronicle and Pilot

• Perfect Closing Weekend – April 5, 1985
• Patterns Repeat, Then Change – Apr. 12, 1985
• Monsoon Already! – June 27, 1986
• Trapped in a Great Basin high – Dec. 19, 1986
• A Big Day For Rye – Jan. 21, 1987
• Pastel Plumes and Short Wave Winds – Dec. 30, 1987
• Powder Fiends Stuck On Queen – Jan. 6, 1988
• Clear Weekend, Then Moderate Short-Wave