GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Dearest Readers,
Thank you for welcoming me into your lives and trusting me to give the most honest and accurate weather forecasts over the past 44 years.
As long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a “meteorologist.”
Growing up in Lowell, my first encounter with “weather” was the Palm Sunday 1965 tornado outbreak. I remember the tornado siren going off and heading to the basement with my parents and four siblings. Oddly enough, there were Dominican nuns that took shelter in our space, as the house we moved into a year earlier was a former convent for St. Mary’s Catholic School with the nuns temporarily living across the street at the parish rectory. Once the all-clear siren was sounded, I vividly remember seeing the mustard-yellow skies after the storms passed, and later, watched coverage of the destruction on WZZM 13 news on our black and white TV. I was hooked.
With my best friend, I formed a ‘weather club’ where we would spend our summers intrigued by thunderstorms, sitting atop the monkey bars at the local school, scanning the skies for tornadoes. In 1967, another tornado outbreak hit the city of Grand Rapids, and we swear we could see the tornado/funnel cloud from Lowell. I now want to be a storm chaser.
Just this week, I was reminiscing about my career and realized I first visited WZZM-13, not 44 years ago, but over 50 years ago! When I was a high school junior I needed to know the best university to attend for meteorology. It just happened that in 1973 the first, true TV meteorologist had come to town. My plan was to ask him where he went to school. It was one of those awkward moments: he had returned from dinner break around 9 pm and I ambushed him with my 90-second ‘elevator’ pitch in the parking lot. That interaction eventually led me to another part of my journey.
Before graduating high school, the 1974 Super Outbreak of tornadoes fueled my passion of severe weather as I prepared to head for college.
After attending and graduating from Grand Rapids Junior (Community) College I was on my way to Penn State University, where I could also continue my passion as a trumpet player in the marching band, with the goal of going to a college bowl game. But just days before I left for State College, a tornado swept through Lowell in the early morning hours of my 21st birthday. I think that was definitely a sign!
Entering Penn State as a third-year college student I deeply dove into learning and loving everything about weather. I also loved playing in the Penn State Blue Band, marching in front of thousands of Nittany Lion fans every home game in the fall and occasionally traveling to an away game in Columbus, Syracuse, or Pittsburgh. The following year we played at the Superdome in New Orleans for the National Championship on New Year’s Day. What a great time!
It was at Penn State that I met my future spouse Sherry Lee. We’ve been married since 1982!
In my fourth and fifth years, I looked for every opportunity to immerse myself in the field, taking on internships with the National Weather Service in Washington DC in the springs and summers, eventually getting hired upon graduation.
During my first few months, while working for the NWS, another opportunity steered my career as an on-air meteorologist on “A.M. Weather”, a 15-minute weather broadcast which aired Monday-Friday at 6:45 and 8:45 AM on PBS station nationwide. I traveled from Washington DC to Owings Mills MD every morning, arriving at 3 am to prepare. Despite the long hours and early wake-up calls, I knew this was my calling!
It wasn’t long afterward, my parking-lot interaction seven years earlier led to a call from the WZZM 13 news director offering me a position as weekend meteorologist alongside Craig James and Bill Steffen. It was the beginning of a dream come true!
From 1980 to 1985 I was the Science Editor reporting on technology, medical, science and weather-related stories in addition to my weekend TV and radio shows. In 1985 I moved to weekdays, working that early-morning shift and the noon show through 1991. During those years my son, Eric, and daughter, Ariel were born, but despite the long hours and early wake-up calls I was able to spend important family time with them nearly every single day. I returned to weekend weather and weekday reporting from 1991 through 2001, which allowed me more time to spend with my family.
In 2001 I was fortunate enough to become Chief Meteorologist. I’ve enjoyed mentoring and collaborating with my former and current colleagues along with dozens of weather interns in those 23+ years. I hope I had a positive influence on them!
I’ve weathered dozens of blizzards (just not the Blizzard of ’78) and countless severe weather events, including the Wild Winds in May 1998 and the more recent Belmont tornado in August 2022. But I couldn’t have done it without the support of my colleagues, especially our exceedingly smart and talented group of scientists/meteorologists who will carry on the tradition of honest and accurate weather story-telling and forecasting.
Finally, thank you for all your kindness and willingness to invite me into your homes each day. It is something I will cherish as Sherry Lee and I chart a new path through retirement. We will see you around West Michigan! It might include some storm chasing!
Be kind, be patient, be forgiving.
Your former Chief Meteorologist,
George D. Lessens