7/19/07
Former TV weatherman Aucoin enlightens kids about bad weather
By Philip Gibbons

CATHY GILBERT/Manning Times

With his homemade tornado maker to his left, meteorologist and author Ken Aucoin explained the workings of Galileo’s thermometer before reading his new book to kids Thuesday night at the Harvin Clarendon County Library. The well-attended program was a ‘pajama party’ for the kids.

Two years ago, Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 storm that ranks as the deadliest and most economically crushing in United States history, ravaged the city of New Orleans. Thousands of lives were lost, the streets were flooded for months and homes were ruined beyond repair.

Ken Aucoin and others had been issuing warnings for years.

“I was a meteorologist in New Orleans for sixteen years,” Aucoin said. “We did hurricane specials every year. We warned that the levies around the city would not hold if a storm beyond a Category 3 hit. Eventually the theories of the levies breaking were confirmed through computer reports at the National Weather Service.”

By the time Katrina hit Louisiana, Aucoin was in South Carolina, working as the chief meteorologist for WIS News. Seeing the catastrophe hit his former home was heartbreaking.

“I don’t want to say I took it personally, but it’s like we screamed for sixteen years that the government wouldn’t be there for them, that they would have to escape if they saw a major storm coming. To see so many people stranded and lose their homes … half of my friends in New Orleans have relocated. It wasn’t even as bad as it could’ve been.”

“When I was in TV right after Katrina,” he said, “I did talks in classrooms. All the kids had the same questions. They watched TV and saw this drama playing out live, and just had so many questions about it.”

The answer to those questions, and more, would become the subject of a book that Ken and his wife, Liz, have self-published, dealing with the events of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

The book is called Jake and Friends Encounter Hurricane Katrina. It deals with three animal friends, Jake (a cocker spaniel), Blitz (a bear) and Pepper (a toy poodle). They get caught in the path of the storm but survive by working together and following a plan.

Aucoin received his B.S. degree in meteorology from Florida State University in 1983 and became chief meteorologist at WIS-TV in 1999.

Ken’s wife and co-author Liz, is the nurse manager for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Care Services at Palmetto Health Baptist Medical Center in Columbia. She has dedicated over twenty-two years of nursing practice to the acutely mentally ill, with the last twenty years specializing in the treatment of children and adolescents. She has provided individual and group counseling for clients dealing with issues of trauma, abuse, depression and other childhood behavioral and emotional disorders.

According to the Aucoin’s website, www.weatherandkids.com, “Through the adversity of the storm they share many lessons with the readers including the importance of having a safety plan, monitoring weather, sticking together and finding hope in a seemingly hopeless situation.”

On Thursday, July 19, Aucoin read his book to a group of children at the Harvin Clarendon County Library. The event was deemed a “pajama party,” and kids were invited to wear their nightclothes and bring stuffed animals.

Before doing the actual reading, Aucoin presented a short lecture about weather forecasting. He had a bag full of props and weather-measuring devices, including a tornado in a bottle (both makeshift and electronic) an anemometer, and several thermometers. He explained what Hurricane Katrina was, its effects and its aftermath.

Jake and Friends Encounter Hurricane Katrina is the first in a planned series of children’s stories, all dealing with weather in some way. The next one is halfway done.

“The characters will probably go through a tornado,” said Aucoin, “and that would be easy to tell because of my personal experience.”

“All of them [the books] deal with the same characters,” he continued, “We’ll add another character. I don’t know if we’ll call him George –George is a Golden Chow Liz and I adopted four months ago – but he’s going to be a character in the book that is really scared of weather. That will be his role.”

The main character, Jake, is partly based on Aucoin’s own dog. Between reality and print, though, there is a big difference.

“We made Jake the weather star. But the real Jake could care less if a storm is coming. George, on the other hand, will run to the nearest corner at the first sound of thunder.”

Though Aucoin retired from his career as a meteorologist three months ago, his fascination with the subject continues to drive him ahead in life.

“I have always loved weather, for as long as I can remember. I think I was in kindergarten … I was fascinated; I would look at the clouds all the time. I just was into it.”