Chewing on the end of a coffee stir stick, Bob Cooke rapidly interprets dots, dashes, commas and squiggles to mean scattered showers with normal to warmer temperatures for Big Sky, Mont.
It’s 10 a.m., and Cooke has already created extended forecasts for a score of small weekly newspapers from Eakley, Okla., to Blanco County, Tex., to Fort Frances, Ont.
Readers of the local paper in the town won’t see his forecast until a few days from now. It has to last them a whole week.
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While Environment Canada is reluctant to forecast beyond five days, and the United States National Weather Service only goes up to 10, the forecasters at WeatherTec Services Inc. divine weather trends as far as two months in advance.
The Winnipeg company has carved a business niche by channeling its knowledge and experience into long-range forecasts for community newspapers, farmers and grain companies. When a visitor tours WeatherTec offices in an industrial park near Winnipeg’s airport, the weathermen joke about hiding their crystal ball.
But forecasts aren’t guesswork for Cooke, John Junson and Larry Romaniuk.
“We know about the weather on the Prairies,” said Romaniuk.
He says a dash of science, a healthy dose of technology and a big dollop of experience make them quite confident in their work.
A satellite dish atop their building downloads Environment Canada weather maps and reports. They pull information off internet sites from several U.S. universities.
Between the three men, they have 125 years of experience interpreting weather patterns. And they don’t seem to want to stop watching the weather now.
“It’s in our blood, it’s in our system, it’s in our souls, like a farmer or a fisherman,” said Romaniuk.
After long careers with Environment Canada, Junson, Romaniuk and Cooke found themselves retired in Winnipeg, looking for something to keep busy. They had briefly worked together in Winnipeg in the 1970s, between frequent transfers across the country.
Junson had worked in the climate section preparing bulletins for grain companies. He saw a demand from those customers for extended forecasts, so after retirement he set up his own weather service in 1987.
Important to grain industry
The grain industry is still an important part of WeatherTec’s business. Every morning, it sends a bulletin to the trading floor at the commodity exchange with a summary of weather conditions and forecasts for the prairie grain belt.
Technology has shaped the direction of the business. Highly accurate computer models have made short-term forecasts the domain of national weather organizations.
With the internet, the company can get detailed U.S. weather information instantly, opening up new markets for longer-range services. Instead of running off 17 copies of the daily bulletin and delivering them to downtown clients, WeatherTec now uses the internet to transmit its information.
Two family members help the company with computer technology. Junson’s son, J.B., works part-time as graphics director. He’s the mastermind behind the jewel in the company’s crown, a colorful weather map that goes in the Winnipeg Free Press once a week.
Cooke’s son, Jay, deciphers his dad’s writing and develops the maps for community newspapers, putting the money he made toward an eight-month multimedia computer course.
J.B. also recently developed a website with maps and information tailored to people in the grain industry. A $10 subscription to the site has been snapped up by grain traders as far away as Japan.
Romaniuk admits long-range forecasts are a little bit risky, adding he is careful to put them into words that don’t lead readers astray.
But readers seem pleased, he said. He has calculated a monthly forecast he prepares for a farm publication is about 80 percent accurate and it ends up stuck on many farmers’ fridges.
WeatherTec charges as little as $15 per map to weekly newspapers, depending on the circulation. The men admit they’re not working for the money. But they say they do pull in a “bare living wage” for themselves.
“We don’t push it, but it would be nice for it to grow,” said Junson.
