Page 103 - Winterling's Chasing the Wind

The Channel 4 News Department was intensely focused on Jacksonville politics and
Community Affairs. Norm Davis had produced a series of Project 4 programs; one of
the first I remembered was of an open-heart surgery operation in the early 1960’s.
Jacksonville was very progressive in some areas; especially with regard to
transportation. We had a system of expressways even before the interstate system
reached our area. When it came to weather, it was pretty well left up to me. In fact, I
was surprised one day when Bill Grove suggested that I attend an Agricultural
Conference in Lakeland, FL where I learned about Frost-Freeze forecasts and citrus
protection. It was there I met Warren Johnson, head of the Weather Bureau’s forecast
office in Lakeland. I remembered using his forecasts while working at Imeson airport
and considered his forecasts the most accurate when it came to low temperatures.

I was always interested in local impact weather events, among them being the
beach-eroding northeasters along our coast. I was aware of 1932 one that caused one
half million dollars damage, and the 1947 one that tore out large sections of seawall.
Northeast winds are a seasonal occurrence along our coast, mainly during the fall and
winter. But on November 28, 1962, I saw the granddaddy of northeasters coming.

I had a bold headline on my local forecast map that stated. “A Real Northeaster!”. That
3-day northeaster tore up much of the boardwalk and seawall at Jacksonville Beach that
caused about 2 million dollars along our northeast Florida coast. I had filmed the frantic
efforts to save the sea wall as workers were tossing bags of sand over the wall in an
attempt to save it. That film was erroneously labeled Dora when the film was replayed
a few years later.

On December 5, 1962, our General Manager, Glen Marshall, received a letter from
W.W. Stuart, Resident Manager of Hudson Pulp and Paper Corp. of Palatka, FL that
expressed his disappointment in Channel 4’s weather presentations prior to my
employment. He stated that he had lived on the west coast, in New England, in South
Carolina and has traveled extensively over the country. He wrote, “In my opinion, the
presentation that Mr. Winterling is making is the best one that I have ever seen”.

One week after that, the most severe freeze since 1899 hit Florida. Jacksonville’s low
temperature was 12 degrees which killed many large camphor trees and Australian
pines. Orlando had a low of 20, and Tampa went down to 19 degrees. After these
events, I was asked to speak many times at civic clubs, churches, and schools. I often
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