2021 Best Weathercaster: Mike McCabe

Mike McCabe has been living his dream job for the past 25 years. To win this title the second time in the last three years is just a bonus for him.

“For me, ever since I was a child, I’ve been intrigued by the weather,” said McCabe. “Especially severe weather, like thunderstorms or winter storms.”

As a kid growing up in Yakima, McCabe would watch the weather people do their forecasts on television.

“I thought it would be the coolest job to have,” McCabe said. “I would actually do the weather forecasts at school for my friends.”

It took McCabe a lot of years to become a forecaster.

“I kind of got in through the back door,” he said. “I started in production behind the camera in Yakima.”

He found an opportunity at KLEW in Lewiston, before eventually moving to the Tri-Cities.

He strives to be an effective communicator more than a weather forecaster.

“I’ve wanted to have fun,” he said.

That includes wearing outlandish suits during his weather casts. That started five years ago.

“I’ve got 18 suits now,” he said. “There are a lot of different themes. I have five different Christmas suits. I have one Valentine’s Day suit. I can’t do a St. Patrick’s Day suit because it’s green and we have the green screen.”

McCabe says the technological changes over the last 25 years have been incredible.

“The forecasting tools they use now are pretty darn accurate,” he said. “I’m just the communicator. I communicate with all of these great tools we have.”

And to make it easy to understand.

“The idea is to have fun and have a little sense of humor,” he said. “And I try to do it all in a way where it’s like I’m talking to my neighbor, or if I meet you in a grocery store. The challenge is to keep it fresh and new.

1. Mike McCabe

KEPR

keprtv.com

2. Monty Webb

KNDU/KNDO

nbcrightnow.com

3. Stacy Lee

KNDU/KNDO

nbcrightnow.com

This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 9:11 PM with the headline "2021 Best Weathercaster: Mike McCabe."