If the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore is in your area, you should be concerned. Here’s why
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Tropical Storm Debby
Tropical Storm Debby made landfall August 5 as Category 1 storm in Florida’s Big Bend region. As it moves up the Southeast Coast, the system could dump historic rainfall in Beaufort County.
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Jim Cantore has a reputation.
It has nothing to do with his personality, but his presence in an area has a kind of repulsive effect — the “Jim Cantore effect.”
As of Monday, Aug. 5, Cantore is in Charleston, South Carolina, contributing to The Weather Channel’s coverage of Tropical Storm Debby, Greenville News reported. He was spotted at Charleston International Airport on Sunday, according to a Charleston radio station.
Here’s what it means when Cantore shows up in your area and how his reputation developed.
Who is Jim Cantore?
He’s a longtime meteorologist for The Weather Channel. Born in Connecticut and raised in Vermont, he joined the outlet in 1986, right after graduating from Lyndon State College (now Vermont State University), according to his bio on Weather Group, the parent company of The Weather Channel.
Cantore works as an anchor and forecaster, and he helps produce documentaries on meteorology, forecasting and storms.
Throughout his career, Cantore has covered major storms including hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, Matthew, Irma and Dorian.
He has received multiple awards for his work, including a News and Documentary Emmy in 2019 for his work in The Weather Channel’s “Dangers of Tornadoes Depicted Through Immersive Mixed Reality.”
What is the Jim Cantore effect?
Cantore has a reputation for being right in the middle of severe storms.
“It’s his work in the midst of those storms that has made him the meteorologist his viewers hate to see coming — if Cantore is in town, it means it’s time for everyone else to leave,” Weather Group writes.
The Weather Channel has really leaned into the phenomenon. A 2011 video created by the outlet shows Cantore on a beach vacation. Whenever people see him, they run, worrying a severe storm can’t be far away.
As the 2011 video highlights, seeing Cantore in person isn’t always a bad thing. He was also in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last October, witnessing the eclipse.
Recent Jim Cantore sightings in the Carolinas, Southeast
The meteorologist goes where the weather is worst, and in recent years, that has been in Florida and along the Gulf Coast.
He was in Biloxi in 2020 during Hurricane Zeta, New Orleans in 2021 ahead of Hurricane Ida. In 2022, he went to Florida, when Hurricane Ian threatened the state.
There was speculation on social media during Hurricane Dorian in 2019 that Cantore had been spotted in Wilmington.
In January 2022, as North Carolina was bracing for a snowstorm, Cantore tweeted a video with the caption “Brined and ready for whatever ma nature has in store for western NC,” The News & Observer previously reported.
As for South Carolina, sometimes a visit from Cantore isn’t cause for nerves. He visited Myrtle Beach, S.C., in 2022, to celebrate the region escaping hurricane season with a massive pizza party, The Sun News reported.
This story was originally published August 5, 2024 at 5:38 PM with the headline "If the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore is in your area, you should be concerned. Here’s why."
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