Aaron Tuttle

I agree and I commend him for his candor, he's confirmed what I've long suspected about the endless weather hype and coverage. I swear it's reached the point of
"don't go outside... unless you're prepared to DIE!" He can't have pleased station
management with his comments though, days have passed since his last post and I hope he's not sleeping with the fishes....
Drumsncode, as to "look in pink"- truth or dare bro!

I was referring to the famous McRee "pink" photo which has now reached legendary status among thousands of fans. Aaron has exceeded her thread-hit popularity, but how does he look in pink? :-)

Aaron,

I'm a bit of a latecomer to this thread, but please let me add my $0.02 to the throng and tell you how refreshing it is to here someone on the "other" side of the fence talk frankly about how the rest of us have perceived weather coverage in this area for years.

As a child, I grew up fearing weather because of certain hysterical meterological loons in this market, whom I shan't name, but it did compel me to learn more about the weather as I got older. It was that minor and minimal education about the weather dynamics in Oklahoma that taught me basically to turn off local weather unless truly serious events were unfolding.

I am by no means any kind of meteorologist, just one who has learned a few "layman's" elements about interpreting and understanding the weather. I miss those days when we could get good "technical" weather information, and think about those times before local news was turned over to the consultants who were paid by each instance of "giggling anchor interplay." If local news folks want to believe it's just Internet and cable that have killed local news, that's fine, but they're delusional. People would have been looking there in the first place had the powers that be not flushed local news into the toilet and continued to provide the kind of information people wanted. Sigh.

The other thing that infuriates me is that it seems all the public consumption meteorologists are falling hook line and sinker for this Global Warming garbage, and that perhaps is the most sickening scam I've ever come across. Did you get pressured to push that crap on the public in the form of "weather fact?" I admire folks like William Gray (long-time hurricane forecaster/expert) for calling out those in the meterological world for pushing that junk...

Power to ya, Aaron.

-SoonerDave

Hey guys,

Me in a pink bikini? lol! No way, I'll leave that for Amy. That picture of her has been circulating forever!!! Goes to show, nothing is private... =)

SoonerDave, it's called "weatherporn". I've always wanted to work in this market because of the exciting weather, I just never realized how over the top it had become until I was in it. I have to be careful what I say on this board because comments posted on the internet will last way beyond my lifetime and we don't want anyone upset now, do we? My feelings today my not represent those of tomorrow.

In either event, the bottom line as with any job, either do what you are told or you will be replaced with someone who can. This business is no different. You live in any other part of the world and you will never find the insane weather coverage that you find here via television.

As far as global warming goes, don't get me started. Just know, that right now, it's a catch phrase. It will pass in a couple of years. Scientists are already becoming vocal that the solar activity on the sun has suddenly stopped, meaning get ready for cries of "ice age". I actually posted many articles and discussions about GW while at the station under the weather blog section. You'll have to view the archives starting from Oct of '07, my last month there, back about 1.5 years. There are many good tidbits you and others might find interesting. I don't want this thread to turn into a GW discussion, so I'll leave it at that.

I'm honored that so many have come onto this board to wish me well, I really do appreciate it. BTW...things are going really well at the FAA. I just finished up a radar concepts course that went more into all different types of radar. After being an operational user for so many years, it was good to go back and learn why things worked they way they did on the math/physics/electrical & mechanical engineering side of things.

Regarding television, never say never. I could end up working in television somehow/someway again one day. You never know what God has planned for you, but I've enjoyed the ride so far....

Weatherporn...thats funny. Glad to see the FAA treating you well. Everytime it rains anymore I get more and more frustrated with the all 3 stations... Gets worse and worse every day.

Hello, I just joined the message board as I was "googling" Aaron Tuttles name to see if I could finally find what happened to him. I moved to Oklahoma 2 years ago from Tennessee and really liked watching his weather. Having never lived west of the Mississippi before and hearing all of the horrible tornado stories, it was nice to learn a lot about Oklahoma's weather on Channel 5 with him. I am glad to read that you are doing well and I would like to take the time to say "thank you" for doing a great job! I too wish you well in your new job! I still watch channel 5 weather, but have to admit that I don't get as panicked when the severe storms hit. I am from Indiana originally so ice and snow have never bothered me, but tornadoes....well...LOL.
Take care and thank you for doing what you do!

After growing up in OKC I recently moved to Dallas after graduating from OU. As I type this message a huge thunderstorm is approaching--and I miss the "weatherporn" that I had grown so accustomed to in Oklahoma without even knowing it!

The past few major weather events in Dallas have left me yearning for "Val on the Getner," or even some HD quality shots from a helicopter following the formation of a wall cloud. I now joke with my coworkers that the most exciting thing about spring in Oklahoma is the insane weather TV coverage.

The coverage in Oklahoma may be a bit over the top, but it is exciting at times--and you are always aware of what's happening. Now in Dallas, I have found myself checking the radar online because the coverage is sparse on TV and they seem very un-rehearsed at tracking storms live. Oh well, just thought I would share a perspective from the other side! BTW I spent some time in NYC as well, and as you would imagine the "meteorologists" there don't seem to have any real knowledge about the weather!

Oh, I just love Aaron Tuttle. I wish he would buy his own TV station so we can see him do the weather again.

You guys are something else...warm fuzzies!

OUmood, yes, Dallas just doesn't do it like we do up here.

On a wild note. Some of you may remember the Edmond tornado around mid March I think it was. Well, I saw the storms and went to bed around 11pm knowing I had to get up for work the next day...and they were moving soooo slow. Well, close to 2am I hear this siren in my sleep. Of course I just thought it was another tornado dream. Yes, us weather guys actually have these, lol! Anyway, I slowly came out of my sleep realizing it wasn't a dream. My first instinct was to turn on the TV because I wanted to see a radar to see if I could go back to bed. Then I thought, what if I don't have time! I told the wife to grab the dog and get into the bathroom in the middle of the house. I grabbed my wallet, cell phone, and tax return of all things. We were set up in the bathroom, I turned on the little TV in the office to see the "hook echo" 2 miles away and coming right for us. Yeah, not a good feeling. I of course being a weather guy, went to look out my west facing window w/my anemometer LCD readout in hand. I was watching the winds. If they rapidly switched to any direction other than due S or SE we were toast. I would then go back to my office and yell at all 3 TV stations for not showing me velocity, lol! My wife in the meantime is asking if we can go back to bed. I hear Rob Hedrick, one of 5's photographers, say power flashes at 178th/penn. Turns out an EF1 tornado touched down exactly 1 mile due north of me and took out that ladies home and damaged others. That was a little too close to home if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I thought you all would get a chuckle out of a weatherman's ride through a tornado event. I'm obviously glad it wasn't any stronger and that everyone was safe including the home that was severely damaged.

AT

AT,

I often wondered what happened to you. You were without a doubt the BEST weather person on tv. I'm so glad you landed on your feet. Channel 5 is really grating my nerves by letting you, Constance Jones and Tyler Suiters go. I might have to start watching Channel 4.

God Bless!
Selena Elzy

Aaron, your tornado story sure makes me realize not to sleep through another siren again! I woke up to hear dogs howling and realized what it was but chose to not get up to check it out.

Luckily, we live in north OKC and not Edmond or that decision might not have turned out too well . . .

I am going to chime in here...Have you ever been to eastern ok....and tried to tell if a storm is coming your way or not..We have a lake place 10 miles west of Checotah and while we are there, we feel so isolated..They only pop up the county that is under the thunderstorm warning..so if you aren't as familar with the counties out east, you have to guess where it is..I am always getting out the map...I think that if a Tornado hit Tulsa, the folks in OKC would know before them...
Just saying...yes our weathermen are over the top sometimes, but I definitely think we have the best in the nation and that they have saved many lives...but they also work for a corporation that wants money as do all business's...So So...
Capitalism strikes again..but at least we are informed...lol

Thanks Aaron for giving us a weathermans view...
Cindy

I will miss Aaron also. What a nice guy and fun to watch! Good luck to you.

This past week is an example of what I was talking about in my last post here.
I don't know as I wasn't at our Lake House or in the Tulsa Viewing area...But I bet That OKC had better coverage than Tulsa when 6 people were killed in Picher,OK...
Sometimes I think WHAT THE HECK..when they are on when the storms are far from our viewing area...but I bet those that have cable and watch our weather teams here in OKC, got more warning than those that soley rely on the local weathermen...

So how many prime-time anchors working on a Saturday on a holiday weekend does it take to talk for 1 minute each half-hour, then toss back to Rick and 2 other meteorologists?

If you're KOCO, the answer is two. Sing it with me friends... Overkill! That'll teach Jessica and Maggie to stay in town over a holiday after sweeps during storm season.

Does anyone know why Chopper 4 was not showing any live footage of Saturday's tornados across North Central OK. KFOR's Mike Morgan was communicating on air via two-way with Jim Gardner, but no live video feed was ever shown. Later, they showed some video taken from the chopper, but it was taped. I also noticed that the video they eventually showed was "jerky." Was their something wrong or was there a malfunction with their camera stablizing system?

Don't forget John Flick at the update desk too! If you ask me it was just a way to chemistry test John with the ladies.

...But you were watching, weren't you? ... at least for a few minutes...

Tyler Suiters' departure is news to me. Anyone know what happened to him?

He went to work for CleanSkies.tv, I think that's the URL. Somewhere around the Washington D.C. area.

Kimberly, his wife, finally left OKC last week to join him there.

Aaron...

I found this because I thought of you and thought I'd look on google and see what happened to you. Honestly - you were the reason that I watched the weather. Terri used to come into PetsMart and I'd ask her how you were doing. You'd come in and you were always so sweet. I'll miss seeing you tv, and at work (since I no longer work at PetsMart.) Thanks for keeping us safe, and good luck in everything that you do. Hopefully...I'll run into you again one day =o)

How nice! I'm still around. Enjoying the job as from day one. My wife and I also have a side business called T&A Marketing Products doing vinyl, embroidery, signs, screen printing, sublimation, etc. I don't want to violate the rules here by posting the link, but if you need something for church, family, school function, or a business gift, just send me a pm and I'll send you the link to our website.

BTW...Look for more changes at KOCO soon. There will be about a 75% turnover in 1 years time come the end of this summer for both on air and off air talent. More new faces on the way...