Familiar Faces

Photos by Pat Christman

NAME: Tom Clements

HOMETOWN:

Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Raised in Evergreen, Colorado.

FAVORITE DINOSAUR:

Tyrannosaurus rex

FAVORITE CLOUD:

Mammatus cloud

BEST SITCOM OF ALL TIME:

“Fraser” or “30 Rock” depending on my mood.

Weather Man

Clements delivers morning, midday forecasts on KEYC

Tom Clements is known for his humor during local television broadcasts. Before KEYC, Clements reported and anchored the entertainment block for Channel 98 Bear News — the student newscast at University of Northern Colorado. He also worked for KOAA Colorado Springs where he began his career as a studio crew member for the morning show.

He joined the KEYC team in 2017 as the weekend meteorologist. Four years later, Clements took on delivering the morning and midday forecasts. And he’s also known for his top-notch memes and posts on his social media (one of Clements’ recent postings had 133 shares). Get to know the man behind the forecast.

MANKATO MAGAZINE: Before we get started, you used to be an opera singer. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? TOM CLEMENTS: Of course! When I got out of high school, I had hopes and dreams of going into the musical theater program at the University of Northern Colorado … That didn’t happen, mostly because I had a falling out with one of the professors. So I “switched sides” so to say. I openly auditioned for operatic performances while I was a journalism major. I still love musical theater, though.

MM: What initially got you into pursuing meteorology? TC: Weather was always fascinating to me, and from a very young age I always enjoyed watching the local news, and I thought the weather people had the most fun. Like Al Roker. You learned something, and you had a laugh too! I knew that’s what I wanted to do. Tell stories, educate, but also have a lot of fun. I like that… I also like the saying by Mark Twain that still holds true to me today: “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

MM: What are some things you enjoy doing on your off time? TC: My wife and I enjoy cooking and gardening. That kind of goes hand in hand. My wife does the flowers and the herbs, and I do the vegetables. If I have a few moments to myself (hard to do with two kids), I can usually be found playing a video game. Well, these days I find myself taking naps more often.

MM: What is a meteorological fact that people might find surprising? TC: Hmmm … I don’t know where this old urban legend came from, but tornadoes can cross rivers. Tornado activity can exist anywhere where the conditions are right, and we’ve seen it happen here in southern Minnesota before, like the St. Peter tornado in 1998.

It’s just one of those old myths that I like to bust.

Other than that, I like that you can determine the air temperature from counting cricket chirps. It gives you a rough estimate, anyway. You count the number of chirps in a 15-second period and then add 37, it gets you the outside air temperature. An approximation anyway. Fun party trick.

MM: What’s something that people might find surprising about you? TC: I’m 6’7, which really doesn’t show up well on the weather wall. That’s one of the comments I hear a lot when I’m out and about. ‘Wow. I didn’t realize you were so tall.’ Another interesting fact is that I am Canadian. I recently applied for American citizenship and I am just waiting to take the test. MM: You gotta tell us about circumnavigating the globe. TC: It was amazing! It was a foreign exchange program that I took part in during my senior year in college called Semester At Sea. I traveled on a ship with 737 students, traveling 26,605 nautical miles over the course of 108 days to 14 different ports of call and 13 countries. There’s so much, I don’t know how you could put it all on one page. Just a few highlights: I danced in the streets of Salvador, Brazil during Carnival, went on safari in South Africa, saw the Taj Mahal in India, climbed the Great Wall of China and traveled through the locks of the Panama Canal… just to name a few. The trip of a lifetime!

MM: If you could do anything for 24 hours without any consequences, what would you do? TC: Unlimited spending privileges on Amazon sounds like a lot of fun. Let’s go with that. $$$

MM: Your social media has some awesome memes. What’s your favorite meme to date? TC: I am always a fan of the “winter is coming“ meme from Game of Thrones. “Brace yourself… ________ is coming” SpongeBob memes are also really good for a laugh. Always on the lookout for something new.

MM: What are you most excited about to get back to normal? TC: Theater and shows! Can’t wait to watch some live theater… or act in something. ;)

MM: Anything else you’d like to add? TC: I’ve always liked this quote: “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” — E. E. Cummings

Compiled by Diana Rojo-Garcia