Hurricanes and COVID: How South Florida’s weather personalities faced this year’s double threat

Hurricane season was heavy for meteorologists, tasked with forecasting and reporting on the busiest season in recorded history, all while battling the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

As storm after storm punished parts of the U.S. coast and threatened others, the work of these forecasters was more important than even in 2020, when a record 30 storms formed.

All the while, COVID-19 was on the radar.

Phil Ferro of WSVN-TV had to keep a wide distance from co-workers after a battle with throat cancer last year put him at high risk for COVID-19. He stayed away from co-workers at the office.

Jacqui Jeras of The Weather Channel spent part of hurricane season isolating in her home after her teenage son was diagnosed with COVID-19. Jeras quarantined in October, a month when the Atlantic birthed Tropical Storm Gamma as well as Hurricanes Delta, Epsilon and Zeta, the fifth and final hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana.

WSVN’s Vivian Gonzalez isolated at home with her family for 10 days because they were exposed to the virus. She returned to work Monday.

Betty Davis of WPLG-TV spent three days in the hospital in July due to COVID-19. She was released in mid-July, after Tropical Storms Edouard and Fay developed, and before Tropical Storm Gonzalo and Hurricanes Hanna and Isaias.

“I realize COVID could have killed me,” Davis said.

And then there’s Paul Goodloe of The Weather Channel, whose close friend was hospitalized twice due to COVID-19. Goodloe traveled during hurricane season, braving the world of airplanes and hotels, and, uncharacteristically keeping his distance from fans and well-wishers who saw him while on assignment.

“That’s been tough,” said the affable Goodloe. “You’re coming across as rude. Then you have to explain to them you’ve got to be safe.”

These and other forecasters had to get creative to stay on top of this year’s conveyer belt of storms while managing their safety during the pandemic.

Some moved their broadcasting studios into their homes, something they’d never done previously.

Communications methods had to be changed, equipment had to be shipped.

Lauren Olesky of WPEC-TV broadcast from home from April through mid-September, an experience she described as “surreal.” Olesky covered the bulk of hurricane season from home but was in studio for the last dozen or so storms.

At one point the station shipped her five pieces of 4x4 carpeting to so her voice wouldn’t echo off the wooden floors in her two-bedroom apartment. When Olesky needed to shoot promos for the station she’d have her husband record her on her cellphone and then email the video to the station.

Unlike The Weather Channel anchors, Olesky didn’t have a studio set up in her home. The station’s production manager brought a green screen to her house to display weather graphics. Her cellphone was her studio camera.

“I had to be my own director, producer and everything,” she said. “I was setting my own camera up.”

Anyone who has had to work remotely and hold virtual meetings knows the challenges created by background noise — barking dogs, leaf blowers, noisy children. For these forecasters, being on the air was another level.

Choppy video wasn’t an option. Some broadcasters had to have family members change their online habits due to the internet bandwidth needed to broadcast from home.

“You may have to tell the kids, ‘You can’t stream a movie between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.,’“said Steve Fahey, senior director of technical operation for The Weather Channel.

Davis, WPLG’s chief meteorologist, feared for her life after battling COVID-19 during the peak of Florida’s summer surge. By then, six tropical storms had already formed and there was a long way to go.

Her symptoms started with a cough, then a headache, then a fever she couldn’t control and finally a battle with pneumonia.

“For me, by day 8, I was in the hospital wondering, ‘Am I going to make it?’ " she said.

Davis needed weeks to recover after her release from the hospital. She still suffers from lingering effects of COVID-19.

For WSVN’s Ferro, Channel 7 1/4 u2032s chief meteorologist, work could have been a harrowing operation because of COVID-19. He said he had a million questions for his doctors.

“Having cancer twice,” he said, “I really didn’t want to take any chances.”

Distancing wasn’t a big problem. WSVN has remote-controlled cameras, the anchors have always sat at a separate desk about 20 feet away, and the weather department now coordinates their arrivals and departures at the office so they don’t see one another. They have people working from home, but there’s only one person at a time in the weather office.

“We’ve got to protect the chief,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said his sister, a middle-school teacher, contracted the virus, possibly from two of her students who tested positive. Her father also tested positive and she informed the station she had to quarantine at home.

“I’m kind of tired of cleaning,” Gonzalez said with a chuckle. “I’ve used so much Clorox.”

Jeras quarantined with her husband and son. They stayed on separate floors of the house. Jeras had the basement, her husband took the main floor, and her son took the top floor. They didn’t interact in person. Instead, they’d FaceTime to communicate.

“I’d make dinner and leave it at the top of the steps for him, and say, ‘Let me know if you need anything,’ " she said.

Goodloe almost has a complete studio in his basement. He has a camera, a 20-inch TV monitor and his laptop can mirror the weather graphics on TV. He even has telestrator capabilities — a system that allows him to draw on the screen during his broadcast.

“It’s fantastic,” said Goodloe, whose wife started an Instagram page for his basement studio.

Tracy Carmony is producer for The Weather Channel’s morning show. Her day starts at 3 a.m. and she works from the office. Hardly any of her staff is in the office, however, so they’ve had to learn to communicate without face-to-face interaction.

“Google chat has been our savior,” Carmony said.

The Weather Channel had to utilize all three of its studios to keep its anchors socially distanced. It used to utilize one studio per show. Its control rooms now have plexiglass dividers between each seat to keep people safe.

The clash of hurricane season and coronavirus did give scientists an opportunity for study.

Jennifer Collins is a University of South Florida professor who is researching Florida residents’ evacuation plans.

“As a hurricane researcher trying to understand this year how COVID-19 played a role in people’s evacuation decisions, it has been pretty exhausting this year trying to get people surveyed from one storm after another,” she said in an email.

“But it will be great when the season is over to have this much data.”

Hurricane season ends Monday, though storms have still formed after the official end. From that standpoint, the meteorologists share the same two thoughts about this season.

“This has definitely been one for the record books,” Ferro said.

Added Goodloe: “Let’s hope it’s over.”

———

©2020 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at www.sun-sentinel.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.