Most iconic Meteorologist in each metro

[Flint1979]

For Detroit I have two people but someone can add more and my first one is pretty obvious and that would be Sonny Eliot. Sonny was a fixture on WWJ radio for years who was known for making jokes during his weather broadcasts.

My second choice is John McMurray. John was on WJR radio and also WJRT-TV in Flint for many years. Both are well known in Detroit broadcasting history.

[index]

Brad Panovich of WCNC is pretty up there in the Charlotte area.

[DTComposer]

From my years in Los Angeles I would go with Dallas Raines on KABC.

Growing up in the Bay Area I'd say Pete Giddings on KGO; since I've returned I haven't watched enough local news to form an opinion.

[Flint1979]

This is a little bit of what Sonny Eiliot was like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwP3L3j86w4

[NWI_Irish96]

For Chicago, it is easily Tom Skilling.

[GaryV]

I grew up with Buck Matthews on channel 8 in Grand Rapids. He wasn't a trained meteorologist, but he made the weather fun. Lines like, "The stationary front will stationary itself over to here tomorrow." He would draw freehand on the map with a marker as he spoke. I finally figured out that there were already yellow lines (which blended in with the background) that had already been put on the map.

[vdeane]

For the Albany area it's Steve Caporizzo of News10 ABC (WTEN) and Fox23 (WXXA).  He also does Pet Connection.

Judging by the memes I've seen on Facebook, I'm assuming the answer for much of Alabama is James Spann.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Boston has so many that could fit the bill. For the current era, it's Harvey Leonard.

[clong]

For the Albany area it's Steve Caporizzo of News10 ABC (WTEN) and Fox23 (WXXA).  He also does Pet Connection.

Judging by the memes I've seen on Facebook, I'm assuming the answer for much of Alabama is James Spann.

James Spann is the correct answer for the Birmingham market.

[XamotCGC]

For Louisville Ky, I want to say ether Tom Wills and John Belski from Wave 3 or Chuck Taylor from Whas 11.

[tigerwings]

Mike Nelson in Denver

[Scott5114]

This question hits a little bit different in the OKC metro since the weather is such a big deal here.

The all-time winner is of course KWTV's Gary England, who is enough of a legend that some of his footage from 1973 (when tornado warnings were done with dry erase markers on a sheet of plastic over what looks like a blown-up ODOT map) was used in Twister. The invention of the shaded county maps that appear in the corner of the screen has also been attributed to him. If there was a competition for "best TV meteorologist, from any market, of all time", it would be very surprising if Gary England did not win it. There's plenty of his tornado coverage on YouTube—go watch it if you want to see why.

Gary's retired now, though, and in his stead we have Mike Morgan on KFOR and England's successor on KWTV, David Payne.

Morgan is your slicked-back TV newsman type—it is said one can accurately predict how bad an upcoming severe weather event is expected to be by how flashy of a tie Morgan picked out that day. (A point in Morgan's favor in terms of iconicness is that we have a user on this forum who chose the screen name "FakeMikeMorgan".) Morgan has pulled some boneheaded moves over the years, though, such as directing people to drive away from a storm on I-35, which would have led anyone following his advice directly into harm's way.

Payne is a lunatic who has the complete opposite energy of England's calm, unflappable demeanor. (He played second fiddle to England for a few years and it seemed like he always got on England's nerves for this reason.) Payne gets all wrapped up in the drama of the event and gets very amped up and animated, randomly throwing out bizarre Oklahoma folksy-isms that make little sense and breathlessly speculating as to the EF rating of various storms while they're still on the ground. If I was being actively threatened by a tornado, I would much rather prefer England's "just the facts" approach, but when the tornado's miles away? I'd be lying if I didn't say Payne was way more entertaining. It's rare that we get a tornado outbreak where a clip of some off-the-wall Payneism doesn't get shared around for a few days.

[formulanone]

Judging by the memes I've seen on Facebook, I'm assuming the answer for much of Alabama is James Spann.

James Spann is the correct answer for the Birmingham market.

He's iconic enough that sometimes people from the other ends of the country ask me if I know who he is when they find out where I'm from.

[bing101]

From my years in Los Angeles I would go with Dallas Raines on KABC.

Growing up in the Bay Area I'd say Pete Giddings on KGO; since I've returned I haven't watched enough local news to form an opinion.

Spencer Christian he replaced Pete Giddings when he moved from Good Morning America to KGO-TV. It's Amazing that Spencer Christian has been with ABC for nearly 50 years. His first role with ABC was when he was at WABC-TV New York then Good Morning America and his longest role is at KGO-TV San Francisco.

[Billy F 1988]

Man, it sucks that I can't think of any TV forecaster in Missoula who gets the nod of "most iconic". Too many have come and gone.

[KeithE4Phx]

For Chicago, it is easily Tom Skilling.

He's certainly one of the best, but I would nominate Harry Volkman, who did weather at just about every major TV station in Chicago at one time or another, other than WBKB/WLS-TV Channel 7, in a 45-year career there.  He was a Chicago institution years before Skilling got to WGN in 1978, replacing Volkman who went to WBBM-TV/2 that year.

[bing101]

Dang Sacramento TV Stations has produced TV Talent that later became legendary in the top 10 TV Markets.

For weather specifically if I were to make a pick it's Mark Finan for KCRA-TV.

https://www.kcra.com/news-team/91e58f02-41cd-4c99-b4a8-29a4ac6c16e4

[wriddle082]

Nashville's most iconic was definitely Bill Hall on WSMV Channel 4, who was probably one of the first popular African-American weathercasters on local news.  Though not a trained meteorologist, he was the most trusted and admired weather personality from 1974 to his retirement in 2005 (he passed away in 2011).  He also hosted a weekend outdoors show in the 80's and 90's that featured him fishing and hunting with several country music celebrities.  I remember an episode where he went fishing with Jerry Reed, and Jerry just cracked wise almost the entire time, Bill was crying from laughing so hard, and they caught nothing!

The eventual demise of WSMV's "dream team" of Dan Miller and Demetria Kalidimos as news co-anchors, Bill Hall on weather, and Rudy Kalis on sports was one of the primary causes of WSMV's news going from ranked a solid first place throughout the 80's to third place for close to 15 years now, plus poor station management and the way they handled letting go of Demetria.  Hopefully their current owners Gray Television will improve their fortunes, as they have experience running successful first place stations in other markets.

[roadman65]

Years ago in the New York Market there was one named Lloyd Lindsey Young who used to say Hello in a Tarzan call manner.

Helllllllllllllllllllllllo!

[jmd41280]

In Pittsburgh, we had Joe DeNardo on WTAE Channel 4 for many years. He was an icon in the Pittsburgh area and would visit local schools every Wednesday to speak to the students. He was highly touted for his accurate forecasts (who in Pittsburgh doesn't remember the "Joe Said It Would" commercials back in the '90s?) and charity work.

[Henry]

For Chicago, it is easily Tom Skilling.

He's certainly one of the best, but I would nominate Harry Volkman, who did weather at just about every major TV station in Chicago at one time or another, other than WBKB/WLS-TV Channel 7, in a 45-year career there.  He was a Chicago institution years before Skilling got to WGN in 1978, replacing Volkman who went to WBBM-TV/2 that year.

In addition, Harry Volkman had two separate stints each at WMAQ (Channel 5) and WGN in the 60s and 70s. Although I liked Skilling on WGN, Volkman is much more memorable.

I'm Googling Seattle's most iconic meteorologists, and two names come to mind: Walter Kelley and Harry Wappler. When I relocated from L.A. in 2000, Harry was nearing the end of his career, and thus I never got to see enough of him, so I'm leaning towards Walter as the top weatherman in Seattle.

[chrisdiaz]

Myrtle Beach is Ed Piotrowski, hands down.

[Bruce]

I'm Googling Seattle's most iconic meteorologists, and two names come to mind: Walter Kelley and Harry Wappler. When I relocated from L.A. in 2000, Harry was nearing the end of his career, and thus I never got to see enough of him, so I'm leaning towards Walter as the top weatherman in Seattle.

Steve Pool was by far the most iconic Seattle weatherman. He was part of a long-running trio at KOMO and only retired in 2019.

[jeffandnicole]

Philly would be Jim O'Brien from Channel 6, ABC. He was killed in a skydiving accident in September, 1983.

[froggie]

Judging by the memes I've seen on Facebook, I'm assuming the answer for much of Alabama is James Spann.

James Spann is the correct answer for the Birmingham market.

He's iconic enough that sometimes people from the other ends of the country ask me if I know who he is when they find out where I'm from.

A not-small number of my fellow mets follow him on social media.