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The Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center · 201 North Findley Street · Punxsutawney, PA 15767 · (814) 938-1000 · info@weatherdiscovery.org
Recent News from the Weather CenterJeff Verszyla Inducted Into Meteorologist Hall of FameMonday, February 4, 2008 Written by Tom Chapin Monday, 04 February 2008 PUNXUSTAWNEY ��" In the small fraternity of broadcast meteorologists, KDKA-TV Chief Meteorologist Jeff Verszyla isn’t reluctant to be the second inductee into the National Meteorologist Hall of Fame. “It’s pretty cool to be No. 2,” Verszyla said upon his induction Saturday at the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center. “It’s special to be honored to do something that I love to do.” Verszyla, a Sewickley native who graduated from Allegheny College with a degree in broadcast communications and English, and earned his degree in meteorology from Mississippi State University, had initially started his career in radio until he took a job at a Texas television station, where he was called upon for weather reports. “Once I started, I had an interest in everything about weather,” he said. Verszyla said operational weather forecasters approach weather from a science angle. With his education in broadcast communications, he approaches weather from an angle of both science and broadcasting. Verszyla said it’s a marriage of two fields in which he is comfortable: He feels at ease speaking in front of people, and his interest in science enables him to deliver forecasts to people in a manner that they understand ��" a nod to his education in English. He said the challenge of marrying these disciplines is making the most accurate weather predictions that he can. “Every day I go to work, I’m never bored,” Verszyla said. Verszyla’s maps on KDKA-TV traditionally don’t display Punxsutawney as a point of direction, but KDKA-TV viewers here may see that change. “Punxsutawney will have a special place in my heart and on my weather map,” he said. With its recently added “Perfect Storm” exhibit ��" and more to come ��" the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center continues to flourish as it seeks to finish Phase II of its design exhibits and to add Phase III next year. During Verszyla’s Saturday induction, state Rep. Sam Smith said that while weather and Groundhog Day are based on predictions, there is no guessing about the success of the burgeoning Weather Discovery Center. “This place is a success because everyone pulls together,” Smith said, a nod to the center’s support by its directors, volunteers and contributors. |