Weather

We have high pressure parked over top of us for a few days, which at this time of year will lead to hot weather…that may set records. Let’s go over it a bit in today’s forecast, then it’s story time…for the first time in a long time!

• Tonight-Mostly clear. Low 66.
• Tuesday-Sunny and hot, high 93. Mostly clear tomorrow night also, low 67.
• Wednesday-Sunny and hot. A pop-up shower or thunderstorm is possible, but unlikely. High 95.
• Thursday-Sunny and hot, also a chance of a late afternoon shower or storm. High 96.
• Friday-Mostly sunny, still hot, but a little better chance of afternoon showers and storms. High 93.

Once or twice every summer, a big, blocking high pressure sits over our area and bakes us for a few days. We have already had one of those, and this week is the second one. It will be quite hot all week, but the core of the heat appears to be Wednesday and Thursday. Our records for those days are both 96 degrees, and at the very least we’re going to get close to that. I think Thursday a tie is very likely at this point.

Also normal to summer is a stray shower or thunderstorm late in the afternoon. That could happen, but I wouldn’t count on it. Expect the afternoons to be hot for the most part all week long, and be thankful if you do get some cooling raindrops from time to time!

By Friday, we should be back in the low 90s, with 80s back in the forecast either for the weekend or early next week.

Today is a big deal day in the Tri-Cities. It’s the last day for Dave Dierks on WCYB as he heads into retirement! Because of that, and since it’s been since Covid that I’ve had a good story to tell here, today is the day!

My first college degree was in broadcasting at ETSU in 2002. The previous fall (as I remember it), I had a news writing class with former WCYB news director Steve Hawkins. There was an assignment in our Tuesday evening class, and one week the only thing we did was meet with Steve about how we did. Steve asked me a simple question about this: “I know you live in Bristol, so there’s no reason to drive all the way over here just to talk to me about this. How about we meet at the TV station?”

Well, of course. We met in Steve’s beautiful corner office and talked about an assignment that’s been lost to me in the 25 years or so since then. The only part of it is that somewhere in there I mentioned I grew up with an interest in weather. “Well, that means you need to meet Dave Dierks then!” Up we went to meet the man himself.

My family is a WCYB family. Growing up, there were three local stations, one in each of the Tri-Cities. Since we lived in Bristol, that was our station. So we locked on to channel 5 from the local news at 6 to Tom Brokaw at 6:30 on the Nightly News to Wheel and Jeopardy. So I knew full well who Dave was. He was at Holston Valley Middle School one day while I was there as a student, and I was so nervous someone else had to get him to sign something for me (I was a kid, you know)! Some years later, I received information from many colleges to go learn more about weather and get a meteorology degree. I ended up going to King, meeting someone who helped at radio stations with his father, which led to ETSU.

Leads me back to Dave. I met him that day in the TV station, back in the days when you had to print upper air charts on huge pieces of paper with specialized, expensive printers. He showed me the whole operation, and we talked about where to go to take classes. Back then, the closest was Asheville, but Oklahoma and Penn State were the big two. I didn’t exactly want to move, though.

So Dave reminded me of Lelan Statom, an amazing meteorologist who used to work there who has been in Nashville ever since. Somewhere in the blog I have that story of when I met him. Lelan started working at WCYB and got his meteorology degree online from Mississippi State, Dave told me. Well, the light went on. Would love to do that! Dave inspired me to give State a call (even though he’s from Iowa State), and I did. The rest is history, even though that history wouldn’t wind up in a meteorology degree until 2017. I did eventually get it!

By the way…as football season begins…Hail State!

It’s truly because of Dave that I went to State to take those classes (they sent DVDs back in the day). Shortly after my first round, I became the station meteorologist, which I still am today. Doing things just like the TV folks do. That’s all inspired by Dave and him passing along a cool idea that hadn’t even crossed my mind.

So…thank you, Dave. Not only for helping me realize my dream of becoming a meteorologist, but especially for all the work you’ve done over the past 40 years. All of us who have lived here all this time certainly appreciate it. And wow…how technology has changed since!

And…thank you Steve Hawkins. I have evidence to believe the man was fantastic at knowing which student planned to do what, and planned the class he taught accordingly for that person, including taking time for them at their convenience. He didn’t have to do it that way at all, but he did…on many occasions, apparently!

Finally, good luck to David Boyd, who becomes the second WCYB Chief Meteorologist I remember. Couldn’t go to a better person!