Mount Pleasant Magazine July/August 2017

47 / 202

47 | |
feature
covering weather in the Lowcountry.
“Being able to be there for people during severe
weather and hurricanes and becoming part of their lives is
greatly rewarding,” said Walsh. “Being part of Live 5 News
and carrying the torch of the late great Charlie Hall is an
honor I take very seriously.”
“I have always been interested in weather
since getting my pilot’s license at age
16,” Walsh added. “I used to watch
the local weatherman on WJAR
Channel 10 in Providence,
Rhode Island, and aspired
to do the same. Ironically,
I ended up working for
him doing weekends on
WLNE before moving
to South Carolina in the
’80s.”
While Fowler and
Walsh have had slightly
different career paths,
they both had a front-
row-seat to the storm of
the century that wreaked
havoc on the Lowcountry in
September of 1989.
“I always tell people Hugo was
an experience that I will never forget,”
said Fowler, whose efforts during that storm
earned him National Weather Association Meteorologist
of the Year honors. “It taught me so much about what a
hurricane can do in such a short amount of time and also
taught me how to cover and forecast a storm with such
intensity and how what you say and how you say it are so
vital to your audience.”
Walsh also had the responsibility and the opportunity
to alert viewers about the Lowcountry’s most notorious
weather event.
“Covering Hugo was like no other storm, especially
for a young guy with only three years in
the market,” said Walsh. “We had to
cover the storm and evacuate the
television station at the same
time. It was a very dangerous
storm and kept intensifying
right up until landfall. We
were a smaller television
operation. I was at
WCIV at the time, and
our job was to alert
people to the danger
and hopefully save lives
knowing a 10- to 20-foot
storm surge was on the
way.”
Both men enjoy
discussing the dynamics
of storms to enthused
students, and perhaps they see
a bit of themselves in those curious
youngsters eager to learn about quarter-
sized hail and tsunamis.
“I love talking to kids about weather in the schools
and seeing their eyes light up when we talk about
hurricanes and tornadoes,” said Fowler. “It’s such an
interesting subject, and I really enjoy being a part of
Rob Fowler
HEARING CARE IS HEALTH CARE.
-X´W RSX WSQIXLMRK ]SY ½RH MR E VIXEMP WXSVI
If you’re having hearing concerns and need proper treatment, see a
FSEVH GIVXM½IH (SGXSV SJ %YHMSPSK] ¯ RSX E WEPIWQER JSV LIEVMRK TVSHYGXW
%X %HZERGIH ,IEVMRK 'EVI [I GER LIPT ]SY [MXL GLERKIW MR ]SYV
LIEVMRK F] SJJIVMRK EJJSVHEFPI GYWXSQM^IH XVIEXQIRX STXMSRW
XLEX [MPP QIIX ]SYV PMJIWX]PI ERH ]SYV FYHKIX
LISTEN UP!
843.606.5658
900 Johnnie Dodds Blvd., Suite 101
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
(V 1EV] %RRI 0EVOMR %Y ( ˆ (V .YPMIXXI +EWWIVX %Y (
Voted Best of Mt Pleasant
three years running!
2017
WWW.BEST OFMP .CO M