Skyler Baldwin | It’s never a good sign when Jim Cantore comes to town.
The adage made the rounds on social media in the days leading up to Hurricane Debby’s South Carolina landfall as Cantore, a battle-tested meteorologist with The Weather Channel who dives into the nation’s worst storms, hit the Holy City for coverage. The arrival of Cantore, a national weather celebrity, is often a sign that things are about to get bad — but at least you know what’s coming.
“Some people think I just show up and start talking about the weather,” he told the Charleston City Paper in a Tuesday afternoon interview. “But there’s a lot more that goes into it. I spent two hours looking at everything before I even stepped outside Monday night. I wanted to get all the numbers right — the history right. It’s important to me.”
Many here have a reverence for Cantore, partially due to the still-circulating clip of his 2014 broadcast outside of the College of Charleston. He was interrupted by a college student, but swiftly got back on track thanks to a firm knee to the student’s groin. The move earned him the wrestler-esque nickname of Jim “The Knee” Cantore in a witty report in the City Paper.
“A lot of people came up to me on Tuesday and told me they just saw the clip,” he said, laughing. “They brought it back to life, I guess. I tell people, especially our women, not to do what I did, you know, because really, I missed.
“It’s just been a combination of being in the right place at the right time,” he added. “The knee, the thunder snow, sometimes I have a period during a big sports game. I’ve just had some great opportunities, and I’ve made the best out of them for myself and the company. But at the end of the day, I’m just a guy who wants to get the forecast right.”
A day in the life
Cantore stayed out late Monday night covering the first round of Debby’s downpours. He described heading to bed just after midnight, only to be awakened like many others by the blaring tornado warning alert on his phone. A few hours of sleep later, his morning alarm went off, and it was back to work.
“I stepped out just to see the damage. Edisto and Moncks Corner, I was like, ‘Wow. They really got hit,” he said. “But we knew the worst tornado potential was late Monday into Tuesday morning.
“But you do all this stuff, and you write it all down on three pieces of paper, and you put those notes into a plastic bag before the broadcast, and then it just blows right out of your hand into the Ashley River.”
And that wasn’t a joke. In fact, he said, you may be able to find his forecast notes still bobbing in the river, if Debby didn’t carry them away. But papers or not, the rain is still falling, and the camera is still rolling.
“It’s just a marathon.”
Afternoon report
Cantore was on the air until about 2 p.m. Tuesday, braving the still-flooded downtown streets late into the afternoon. When asked where he stopped for lunch that day, he just laughed.
“A spoonful of peanut butter this morning,” he said. It was far from a night out at Halls Chophouse, which he said is his favorite spot to hit while he’s in town.
Cantore said by the time the crew was nearing the end of its broadcast on Tuesday, people were already stepping out into the partially flooding streets, playing loud music, riding bikes, walking dogs and gearing up for a classic Charleston hurricane party.
“Everybody knew that the threat was over for the day, that we were in between phases of the storm,” he said. “We were still rolling, but people were out here with wine, doing vodka tonics, and the party just kept getting bigger and bigger. I’m like, ‘Guys, we’re trying to talk about the flooding.’ But when it’s not that bad, and you know what’s coming later — well, you can have a party.”
It’s just part of Charleston’s charm, Cantore said.
“It’s part of why I love coming out here. People are so nice. They want to say hi, take a picture, tell you a story.”
The next time he comes back (good weather permitting, of course) it will be to officiate a wedding. Cantore said he had met a woman at the Charleston Wine + Food festival who was “a huge weather nerd,” and she asked him to officiate her coming October wedding.
“I told her, ‘I just met you 10 minutes ago,’ but she was adamant,” he said.
Officiating a Charleston wedding — just one more check mark on Cantore’s Charleston bucket list, we suppose. Here’s to smooth sailing.
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