ROCHESTER — For some people, the technical aspects of weather
forecasting may be a dry subject, but Kevin Skarupa, Channel 9’s
morning meteorologist, with his sunny smile and infectious
enthusiasm, was able to make the topic engrossing for School
Street School students, during a recent visit. He held the
attention of dozens of youngsters for well over half an hour,
with a visual presentation and a fact-packed talk. This included
details of his forecasting tools of the trade — six computers,
and the occasional glance outside — plus a rundown of weather
features that can impact this region. Skarupa described the
information provided by each of the computers in the TV
station’s weather room — one is able to provide 200 maps per
hour providing meteorological details from all over the world.
“Half of them are wrong, and it is up to us to make our
predictions,” said Skarupa, who starts absorbing all this
information in the office at around 2 a.m. each morning, in
readiness for his first appearance on screen just a