Longtime meteorologist Cecil Carrier died last month at the age of 88.
I grew up on a farm in central Kansas, so I didn’t discover Cecil’s weather forecasts until I arrived in Wichita to attend Wichita State University in the fall of 1979.
But he sounded like home: a down-to-earth, straight-talking forecaster who could have been the farmer down the road – except he knew better than most what those dark clouds in the southwest could do or that sharp north wind in December foretold.
I came to appreciate how calm Cecil stayed even as the weather around us seemed to unravel. For many residents of the Wichita area, he was weather’s Walter Cronkite: a voice you could trust in the midst of the confusion. If Cecil told us it was going to be OK, then by golly it would be. And if he told us to take shelter…
Technology has transformed how meteorologists can forecast weather and severe storms. Thanks to the Internet and highly evolved radars, it’s much more easy for us to see and understand the weather around us.
That wasn’t the case when Cecil was on duty. That’s why his knowledge – and his approach – meant so much to so many for so long.
Rest well, Cecil.