November 12, 2009

Weather man
Josh Judge forecasts strong book sales

WMUR meteorologist Josh Judge takes weather to the kids. Together with former New Hampshire Environmental Educator of the Year Kathe Cussen, Judge wrote Weather Facts and Fun, released this past weekend. The 40-year-old Hampstead resident will give a presentation and sign books at SEE Science Center in Manchester (200 Bedford St.) on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m. (free with paid admission to the Center). Proceeds from book sales at the event will benefit SEE. The book is available at area stores and at www.weatherfactsandfun.com.

Q:What’s the book all about?
[G]iving children not only a way to learn about weather in a little more fun way … but also in a way that’s about local New Hampshire weather. ... There’s a lot of diagrams, pictures and explainers about weather here, Nor’ easters ... like the last few hurricanes, exactly what the path was, the tornado that hit New Hampshire, floods that hit recently. So I went out and took a lot of pictures. ... So not just here’s a picture of cumulus clouds, but cumulus clouds over Concord....

How did this come together?
I had wanted to do this for years. It’s targeted to elementary school kids, grades two to six. That’s who I usually talk to [when he visits classrooms].... They’ll ask questions as long as I can take them. ...The way the book came about, last year a New Hampshire publisher ... approached me about doing a foreword for a book on the ice storm ... and after, I told the publisher my idea for the book and he said, “That sounds great. Let’s do it.” ... A couple years ago ... the state started requiring weather units in elementary schools.... Teachers were telling me there was no one book that addresses all those specific things. ... I asked a real good friend of mine, [Cussen], if she would co-write it with me and she said yes.... she went through to make sure it was written well, words were appropriate, and also, as a science teacher, she added activities and experiments....

Did you get a chance to have some kids take a look at it in advance?
Absolutely, I gave a couple advance copies to my son’s elementary school and had him show it to six or seven different teachers. I tested it on my own son as well. ... It was 90-percent positive, with a couple little suggestions. So we kind of used that as test marketing.

How did you get into this profession?
I had done radio for years, and I went to school at Emerson College for broadcasting, and for years I did morning radio in New Hampshire. ...  I had always been fascinated by weather but I was daunted by the thought of going to school for it. So about 12 or 13 years ago I changed my mind and went back to school. ...

What’s a typical day for you?
First of all, even on my days off I need to monitor the weather. With the Internet it [is] easier to monitor the current conditions. … Then I go into work and scour over loads of data. [He said on weekdays he gets to the studio at 1:30 a.m.] ... We have technical discussions with experts in the field. ... Then we start making all those maps we stand in front of. We actually make those ourselves. We have a bunch of weather computers, with one just for maps. … Then I’m on the air in the morning for several hours at a time ....

When you are on the air for such a long time, do you still get a chance to monitor the weather?
In between we rush back, watch the satellite. ... Everything we say is not scripted. It’s all ad lib. We really have to know our subject every day. To be in front of a blank wall and have a speaker in your ear counting down the time, so while we’re talking they’re telling you how much time is left ...  it’s quite a weird job. We never know 100 percent what we’re going to say until we’re on.  — Jeff Mucciarone