Harold Taft

Harold wasn’t exactly a Highlander, but he did work in a studio located on our side of town and he was the best weatherman I have ever watched. You could always count on Harold giving an accurate, no non-sense weather report. Of course, as a youngster I never paid much attention to the weather. I just looked outside to determine what the weather was…never mind what it might be doing later. The only real problem with that approach was if you had a convertible with its top down and rain was forecast for later.

Harold Taft was a member of our parents’ “greatest generation” and had served, as did many of our parents, in the WWII armed forces. Harold was a weatherman for the Army Air Force in England.

“PM thunder” and the term “thundershowers” were particular peeves for Harold. Repeatedly he said, “there is no such thing as a thundershower, it’s a thunderstorm.” And as such any thunderstorm was something to be concerned about. Harold wasn’t cool in much the same way our parents weren’t cool…but you know, he was cool in his own way. He was a straight shooter and judging from some of the local memorials to him, others thought that way about him also.

Anyway, I was thinking about Harold recently as I was doing some writing about others of the “greatest generation” and found this picture that encapsulated my memories of him. Thought I would share it. I have been a lot of places and seen a lot of weathermen & weatherwomen. Harold was the best.

Adios