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October 30, 2007
Global TV's Madryga mad about the weather, in a good way
Kerry Gold
For bchydro.com
VANCOUVER – People care about the weather and how it affects their wedding day, their golf game, and their commute to work. But few are as personally involved as Global TV's senior meteorologist Mark Madryga.
Madryga loses sleep over the weather. He mentally beats himself up over the weather. Rarely, but on occasion, somebody else wants to beat him up over the weather.
"I have always been nervous about the weather," says Madryga, 44, and a member of BC Hydro's Team Power Smart. "I don't think anyone else takes it quite as seriously as I do. But I don't like to be wrong. It's my job, and when you blow a forecast, it's kind of embarrassing."
It seldom happens, he adds, and cites an accuracy rate of about 85 per cent. The people who rely on him most for his educated predictions are farmers, film companies, ski hill operators, construction workers, brides-to-be.
"I suppose there's been the odd episode," he says. "But they're not really mad. I get a little bit of ribbing if I'm wrong."
"If I've been read the riot act a bit, it would be by the odd construction worker where we said it would be dry for a few hours, and then they go pour concrete and it rains."
He adds: "I do feel almost responsible for the weather at times."
This is a guy who made his own weather reports as a kid (he still has the tapes). Even while on vacation he keeps tabs on local weather, which is why he's never far from his Blackberry.
When Madryga first joined the TV station in 1994 (called BCTV at the time), he was the only meteorologist from Environment Canada doing television and radio. Broadcasting has since become a full-time gig for Madryga, and it's not always easy being given the god-like position of announcing to the world whether you think a weather system will ultimately quicken, slow down or intensify.
Weather and global warming
To add to the pressure, the weather has become a crucial hot topic that is increasingly taking up headline space in the media, with hurricanes like Katrina and Rita now household names.
Such topics ultimately lead to the not so-little-matter of global warming, given top billing now that former U.S. Vice President Al Gore just picked up the Nobel Peace Prize for his relentless awareness campaign on the topic.
"The weather plays a huge part in our lives, people are into it and... they are intrigued by wild weather," says Madryga. "As a result, I think it's blown a little out of proportion. Has the climate really changed that much or are we just more aware of these record temperatures and storms and those kinds of things?
"Fifteen years ago, there weren't as many weather people or TV stations. The weather was on TV but it's more publicized now than before."
He may take a cautious position on global warming, but he does love the spin-off hype around the weather.
"I love people being really into it. I love it when people are keen and stop me in the streets and ask what the weather is going to be like."
2006: A wild winter in B.C.
Madryga can expect more attention following last year's record-setting year for wild weather.
"Last year was probably the biggest year for storms that I've ever seen," he says. "There were many, many big wind storms, a few snow storms and lots of rain storms."
But the ones that hit close to home were those that toppled more than 1,000 trees in Stanley Park. It was one of the few episodes that actually disturbed the 20-year weather veteran. "The two big windstorms in Stanley Park... that was a bit of a shocker," he says. Not that he didn't see it coming.
"That one we hit really, really well. It was something we saw coming a few days in advance.
"The most important part of being a forecaster is to accurately predict those big events that could be damaging and life threatening and devastating like Stanley Park. Those are the ones we follow very closely as far as timing and intensity and exactly where they are going to hit."
He admits to a bit of weather-envy when it comes to regions that have extreme weather, places that attract tornado chasers. It's a meteorologist thing.
"It would be kind of cool to be exposed to these storms or to be in a place that gets some of these wild weather events for a few months of the year," he says. "But I wouldn't want to live in the path of a hurricane or on tornado alley on a regular basis. "It's weird to say, but when it gets to extremes of weather around here is when we get pumped up and really, really focused on the timing and details of the weather.
"That's when we can affect people's levels of convenience, when we know there's something big coming and we can alert them. That's when we earn our money."
Are you ready for storm season?
Here are some useful links to help you get prepared for storm season, when severe conditions can lead to power outages or dramatically increase your consumption of electricity.
Kerry Gold is a Vancouver-based freelance writer who spent a decade covering music for the Vancouver Sun.
