After weathering the storms of last year, we wondered what the outlook is for 2012. To answer some of this year’s hottest questions we turned to the city’s top forecasters – our chief meteorologists. After all, they make a living looking into the future, and how different can cultural tempests be from the hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards they’ve followed their entire careers?
PAUL BARYS
Paul Barys knew he had a future in forecasting since his teens, but his on-air talent almost never came to fruition. After sending his resume to more than 500 television stations across the country, it was the last possible studio in Washington, N.C. that gave him a shot. At the time most weathermen on TV were announcers instead of meteorologists, chosen for their deep and melodic voices, explains Barys.
Paul Barys, chief meteorologist for the Channel 3 Eyewitness News Storm Alert Team“I knew I didn’t have a tremendous voice so I was at a disadvantage because that’s what they expected,” he recalls. “But there were a few news directors that were forward thinking and knew if they could get an authority figure in there, it would translate to higher ratings.”
Before television Barys did a brief stint with a private weather service – his most interesting client being a Midwestern bakery. Apparently the hotter the temperature, the less bread they sold. He and his colleagues once predicted a blizzard that saved the bakers more money than what they paid for the service in a year.
Now a fixture in the meteorology community, Barys is continually scanning our horizons as chief meteorologist for the Channel 3 Eyewitness News Storm Alert Team, a job he took in 1985. He raised his two daughters here, Jaime and Maggie, and lives in Red Bank with his wife, Sarah.