Baton Rouge Temperature: 92°
Thursday, August 7, 2008

PAT SHINGLETON

Pat has been in broadcasting for 29 years. Originally from Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, Pat began as a weathercaster at KQTV in St. Joseph, Missouri. Then he moved to Baton Rouge before relocating to WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Since his 1981 return to Baton Rouge as WBRZ’s Chief Forecaster, Pat has accepted many responsibilities. He is the President of Pat Shingleton Productions and has produced, distributed, and syndicated various shows, such as We Play Baton Rouge, The Fifth Quarter, and Hotline After Dark. Since 1992 he has tracked Santa Claus’ location on Christmas Eve with other weathercasters from around the country in his syndicated project, “Santa Tracks.”

Pat is a member of various professional organizations, such as the American Meteorological Society, the National Weather Association and the National Association of Television Program Executives. He has been recognized by the Louisiana Associated Press for his weather presentations, and he was selected the best in the state in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2001, and 2002.

In conjunction with his position as a weathercaster for WBRZ, Pat is involved in many community activities. He is a chairperson for several programs, including “Pat’s Coats for Kids.” He developed the concept for the St. Vincent De Paul Society’s “Community Pharmacy,” creating “Fill a Prescription for the Needy.” He originated The St. Patrick’s Day Parade, “The Wearin’ of the Green,” in 1986, and he continues to be the St. Patrick’s Day Parade coordinator.

Pat has been instrumental in raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for worthwhile causes such as the Our Lady of the Lake Foundation, Our Lady of Mercy’s “Campaign for Tomorrow,” The Diocese of Baton Rouge’s “Preparing for the New Millennium” and Catholic High School’s “Second Century of Excellence.” He’s the co-host of the Children’s Miracle Network’s telecast, benefiting the Children’s Hospital. In 2003, Pat received the Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundation’s Volunteer Activist Award. In 2005, the Society of Fundraising Professionals honored him as their “Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser.”.

Pat has been a member of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church since 1980, assisting in numerous positions for the Church and school. He is currently a Eucharistic Minister, Lector, and Commentator for the Church.

Pat has a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from Point Park College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is married to Mabyn Kean Shingleton and has two children, Michael and Katie.

On this date in 1789, Congress federalized lighthouses built by the Colonies and appropriated funds for lighthouses, beacons and buoys. As noted in a previous Weather News story, lighthouses directed ships safely through fog, storms and other weather events.
As residents clean up in southeast Texas from Eduoard, and a tornado in Griffith, Ind., we rewind five months to a single twister that destroyed a landmark. The Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta is the resting place of Confederate generals, governors and “Gone With the Wind” author Margaret Mitchell.
I reported in a previous Weather News article that Venice, Italy, was constructing hydraulic gates to block flood waters. Agence France-Presse and La Stampa say city officials and engineers have launched “Operation Rialto.” The Italian government is complimenting its original “Moses Project” that devoted 4 billion Euro to 78 inflatable barriers.
In 1907, the Italian Royal Academy of Sciences noted tests showed anti-hail cannons weren’t effective and urged the government to cease encouraging expensive and useless work.
Saturday’s article noted Griffith Morgan’s research on the use of cannons in preventing hail damage to crops.
The average yearly property damage for property and crop losses from hailstorms totaled $5 billion in the United States. On July 12, 1984, Germany had a hailstorm that caused $950 million in damage; and in Canada on Sept. 7, 1991, a single hail episode caused $500 million in crop damage.
Cesar Caviedes’ book “El Niño in History: Storming Through the Ages” chronicles the history of El Niño and its impact on world history. He evaluated the El Niño/Southern Oscillatio and its effects on the Peruvian fishing industry.
In previous Weather News articles, I’ve noted that in ancient times, evening entertainment included gazing at the stars. “Earthlings” would enjoy a star-studded sky, creating images of animals by “connecting the dots.” The Chinese created images different from Native Americans.
During the weekend, the golf group enjoyed an icy towel to beat the heat. A quick swipe across the brow provided relief that lasted for a few more holes.
Today marks an unfortunate anniversary as referenced in previous Weather News articles. On this date in 1945, during the final days of World War II, the moon rose at 10:30 p.m. in the Philippine Sea. Weather reports of that evening found the rising moon peeking through a broken overcast sky. Japanese submariners targeted the silhouette of a heavy cruiser on the eastern horizon.
When we hear the thunder, we head for cover. As noted in a previous Advocate Weather News, French peasants would carry “thunderstones,” or pierres de tonnerre, to ward off lightning. When they heard thunder, they would recite the verse: “Pierre, pierre, garde moi de la tonnerre,” which means.
Weather anniversaries are repeated in this space, and after Dolly, here’s a hurricane item. For the first time in meteorological history, Col. Joe Duckworth and Lt. Ralph O’Hair took off from Bryan Field near Galveston, on this date in 1943, and flew into a hurricane.
A summertime task during our younger days was “stretching the clothesline.” The line was secured at the garage, the flagpole, the porch, and stretched back to the garage.
In 1995, the space shuttle’s windows were pitted from space debris. The U.S. Space command believes there are at least 7,800 pieces of orbiting debris. The Web site, Spaceweather.com, provides a guide for sky watchers of coming attractions.
Father Benito Vines, a Jesuit priest, is regarded as the preeminent hurricane scholar of the 19th century. As the director of the observatory at Belen College in Havana in 1870, he made meticulous observations of weather conditions, especially during tropical disturbances.
Agence France-Presse reports the start of Japan’s highly anticipated cherry blossom season is determined by the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The University of Western Ontario in Canada has replaced the wind tunnel with pressure boxes to replicate the effects of a hurricane.
Russell, Pa., is in the heart of the mountain forests that supply the best baseball bats. As reported in yesterday’s column, rising temperatures may cause the ash wood to turn softer with a longer growing season, threatening the community’s livelihood.
After the All-Star break, Major League Baseball is back into swing, and I’m repeating an article about bats. Terry Bahill, an engineer at the University of Arizona wrote “Keep Your Eye on the Ball: Curveball, Knuckleballs and Fallacies of Baseball.”
If you’re interested in a fully secure home, consider a dome home. Monolithic Constructors in Italy, Texas, reports that the domes are built to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes, and the one-piece buildings meet or exceed FEMA guidelines for “near-absolute” protection.
After days of less humidity, we’ve back to our July weather scenario: hot, muggy and showers. As mentioned in previous Weather News articles, July 17 is an anniversary of importance to all of us.
Rogue waves are rare, gigantic walls of water that rapidly move through the oceans. In 1960, off the coast of Spain, a 90-foot wave hit a freighter in clear weather. The Queen Mary capsized off Scotland from what the captain called, “one freak, mountainous wave.”
As we monitor the Caribbean, Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico for tropical storms, we note the Top 10 International Weather Events of 2007, from Weatherwise Magazine. On Nov. 15, Category 4 Cyclone Sir hammered Bangladesh killing 3,400 and destroying 500,000 homes.
The Bishop of Winchester was a Benedictine monk who died July 2, 862. He requested to be buried outside so the rain would fall on his grave.
When Frank Epperson was 11, he took a wooden stir stick and placed it in soda pop outside one wintry New York evening.
Hurricane Bertha will slide southeast of Bermuda on Monday afternoon.
Kurt Weilbacher knows quite a bit about hail. Recently, he told me that pea size to ping-pong size hail can cause a variety of damage, depending upon the consistency. From Kurt’s experiences, he noted that for our area, golf-ball size hail is the size that really causes the damage.
Tsunami is Japanese for “harbor wave.” In shallow waters, the impact of one is severe. Caused by undersea earthquakes, waves race across the ocean at speeds greater than 500 mph.
A bleached-white section of coral reef is dead. A recent government report indicates half the coral reefs in the United States are in either poor or fair condition. “ABC World News Tonight” reports coral reefs are the rainforests of the ocean, and experts say many are dying.
In the 1800s, the thriving fish population in Limfjord Sound, Denmark, mysteriously disappeared. Recently, it was determined an isthmus that separated Limfjord Sound from the North Sea collapsed during a storm. This raised the salinity level of the western part of the sound, killing the white fish and eel fish.
Cloud-seeding experiments began in 1946 when Vincent Schaefer dropped dry ice into super-cooled water droplets. Thomas Bell, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, reviewed data from its Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission from 1998 to 2005.
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