How Bob 'Weatherman' Burger's amateur forecasts grew so popular that fans raised $6K

Bob “Weatherman” Burger spent last week hunkered down in his Point Pleasant Borough home, trying to figure out how much snow the area was going to get.

It’s more than a hobby for the retired Island Heights police chief. Thousands of locals and officials from a bunch of neighboring municipalities follow his forecasts and take his word as gospel — over the Weather Channel, the TV news meteorologists and even the National Weather Service.

“I spent four or five days tracking the storm at all hours — I went like 35 hours without sleep, speaking with guys from public works from three or four different towns and all the emergency-management (officials),” he said. “It makes my wife crazy. When there’s a storm coming she says, ‘I’ll see you in a few days.’”

So after Burger got it right as usual — he originally projected about a foot of snow before warning of the blizzard that eventually dumped 18 inches on his lawn — the 64-year-old was exhausted and posted a plea on his popular Facebook page.

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“It was just, ‘Can somebody with a snowblower stop by my house for a minute?’” he said. “When nobody shows up, you kind of get frustrated.”

After expressing his disappointment on Facebook, Burger was met with a surprise: Not only did a neighbor take care of his driveway; a loyal reader launched a GoFundMe campaign for him (titled "Bob 'the weatherman' Burger"). In two days it raised $6,000.

“I didn’t know what to put as the goal because I’ve never done GoFundMe before,” said Michelle Brennan, the Brick resident who started the fundraiser. “I just knew people would restore his faith in humanity.”

Brennan said she’s been following Burger’s weather updates for many years.

“He’s wonderful,” she said. “He’s a giver, one of those people who wants to make everybody’s life a little bit easier. People like that need to be reassured that they’re doing the right thing. I’m so happy the community came together and did that for him and said, ‘thank you.’”

Burger posted that he was “absolutely speechless” at the outpouring.

“Of course I’ll get a snowblower now; how could I not?” he said via phone. “I could buy five snowblowers!”

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Feud with Facebook

Burger has lived in Point Pleasant Borough for just about his entire life. He got into meteorology as an outgrowth of his job as a police chief, handling emergency management preparation.

“From there it kind of snowballed,” he said, no pun intended.

In 2009 he launched the Facebook page “Bob Weatherman Burger,” where he shared his forecasts. In 2012 he sounded an early alarm on the coming of superstorm Sandy.

“I tracked Sandy for a long time; she had just left the African coast and I said, ‘This is going to be a big storm,’” he recalled. “I watched all the guidance — surface temperatures, water temperatures, pressure gradients. A lot of people thought it would go out to sea and make a right turn. I said, ‘It’ll make a left turn and go right across New Jersey.’”

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As his reputation grew, his following swelled to 35,000 followers. But he stopped posting there in April 2020.

“I got a message from Facebook saying I could sway too many voters because I had so many followers,” he said. “I said, ‘What are you talking about? I do the weather. I don’t even allow politics on my page.’”

Burger said Facebook froze his access to the page.

“They said, ‘We can’t verify what country you’re in,'" he said. "I said, ‘What country am I in?! I’ve lived in the same house my entire life. There are 35,000 people who know where I live.'”

Burger said he sent Facebook as much residency documentation as he could muster.

“They blew me off,” he said. “We went back and forth for six months, and they wouldn’t let me back on my page.”

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So he shifted his forecasts to his personal Facebook page, and his most ardent fans migrated there. Two weeks ago, when word of a potential snowstorm first started buzzing, he posted a snow map that predicted “zero to two feet.”

It was tongue in cheek, of course, with a kernel of truth.

“We just didn’t know,” he said. “One forecast said maybe an inch or two. Another said a foot. The European model had a little more snow. The NAM model (North American Mesoscale Forecast System) is the best model under 36 hours. Once the NAM and European got on the same page, I knew then we would have a lot of snow. And we did.”

As the storm grew closer, Burger raised the prediction. His final call had the much of the Shore getting 12-18 inches. Bingo.

He’s not always right, of course. In December he predicted a serious snowstorm. A dusting ensued.

“We were right on the edge of it,” he said. “Fifty miles determined 8 inches of snow or hardly any.”

The biggest challenge?

Of all the damaging weather, Burger said snow is toughest to predict.

“Not only do you have to guess where; you have guess how much and you have to guess for how long,” he said. “With hurricanes I’ve usually got three or four days to see what’s going to happen, and that makes a big difference. Snow is a real challenge, and I like the challenge. If you’re right, you’re a hero. If you’re not, you’re the bad guy.”

Burger said he does not follow other meteorologists. He doesn’t want to be influenced.

“I’m not a big fan of the Weather Channel,” he said. “Sometimes they’re OK, but sometimes they’re not.”

Instead, he studies models and other factors like air currents, wind speed, ocean temperature and atmospheric pressure.

“For hurricanes I usually stick with the European model because most of them come from that side,” he said. “The European model does well with ocean temperatures. For snow, the European model seems to be winning. The past three or four storms, the European has been the one we trust long-range.”

Burger’s biggest appeal is that he’s local. Weather forecasts tend to cover broad regions. He’s got his sights trained on the Jersey Shore and especially Ocean County. In addition to forecasts, he posts alerts about road conditions and school closings. It’s like having a meteorologist in your backyard.

When asked what’s on his radar down the road — meaning how long he plans to continue doing this — Burger responds the way a guy nicknamed “Weatherman” would.

“Friday, rain during the day and temperatures going from the mid-40s to the teens at night, with some slick stuff on the roads,” he said. “The weekend looks good.”

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: How Bob 'Weatherman' Burger became a popular NJ weather forecaster