George Winterling was the longtime chief meteorologist at Jacksonville, Florida’s WJXT, where he developed the concept of the heat index.
- Died: June 21, 2023 (Who else died on June 21?)
- Details of death: Died at the age of 91.
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George Winterling’s legacy
Winterling learned meteorology while serving in the U.S. Air Force in the late 1940s and 1950s. After leaving the military, he worked for the U.S. Weather Bureau (now known as the National Weather Service) for several years before joining WJXT in 1962 as a meteorologist. When he did his first TV weather forecasts, the only weather prediction tools available to him were a rain gauge, a wind gauge he installed on the roof of the station, and a barometer. And yet Winterling used these tools to correctly predict that 1964’s Hurricane Dora would hit Jacksonville, going against the forecasts offered by the Weather Bureau and all other local meteorologists. As Dora ravaged Jacksonville, Winterling’s reputation was made – his forecast is believed to have saved property and perhaps lives as local viewers were able to prepare for the hurricane.
Winterling was an innovative meteorologist. Before satellite images of weather were available for broadcast television, he created maps showing the Earth from space and drew upcoming weather systems on them. And in 1978, Winterling came up with a new way to express the true feeling of heat combined with humidity. In humid Florida, the temperature on the thermometer doesn’t always accurately convey how draining a hot day can really feel. So Winterling devised a system of combining the temperature and humidity, which he called humiture. The following year, this was adopted by the National Weather Service and renamed the heat index.
Winterling was known for delivering the Thursday weather forecast from “George’s Garden,” his garden at the WJXT building. On those segments, he would offer gardening tips to go along with the forecast. He went into semi-retirement in 2009, after almost 50 years at WJXT, though he remained the station’s severe weather expert.
Winterling on Hurricane Dora
“I did the old school. The only way you can tell with a hurricane – its steering – is by the barometric pressure. Every time I tapped it, it would go down a little lower and a little lower… I think [the viewers] realized I was taking it seriously – that things could start falling on your house or yourself.” —from a 2022 interview for WJXT
Tributes to George Winterling
Full obituary: The Florida Times-Union
