In 1990 he helped create First Warning, a state map which appeared in the corner of the television screen, with counties colored in to indicate storm watches and warnings. However, the radar used by WHIO during the Xenia Tornado was a conventional weather radar, not a Dopplerized radar. There is a dispute by some sources, as there was an earlier radar bulletin issued by Gil Whitney of WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio during the ApXenia tornado. While the National Weather Service is the only one legally responsible for issuing warnings in the United States, England is credited with issuing the first televised Doppler weather radar bulletin for a tornado, in March 1982. The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) out of Norman placed numerous storm chasers around it to capture the life cycle on film, which was also a first.Īn original video of England's live cut-in of the Union City tornado in 1973 is often still used today in Channel 9's promos of England and its severe weather coverage.Įngland is recognized, along with the firm Enterprise Electronics Corporation, as initiating development of the first commercial Doppler weather radar. The Union City tornado was also the first documented chase ever on a tornado. Channel 9 viewers saw the radar image of a damaging F4 tornado near Union City in Canadian County which resulted in extensive damage to that small town. A few months later, KWTV introduced the first radar system specifically designed for television and during a live cut-in by England on for a tornado warning in Canadian County. England began working at KWTV on October 16, 1972. Glenn and Associates in New Orleans.Įngland's first broadcasting job was a short stint at KTOK, an Oklahoma City talk radio station. England then spent four years as a consulting meteorologist and oceanographer with A.H. He attended the University of Oklahoma and graduated in 1965 with a B.S. Navy at age 17, where he first began to study weather seriously. Īfter graduating from high school, England joined the U.S. He counts other weather, including tornadoes, blizzards, dust storms, flash floods, and wildfires, as piquing his interest in weather. For England, one event stands out among the variety of memorable experience with western Oklahoma weather: the 1947 Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes which wiped out much of nearby Woodward, killing over 100 people. Like many meteorologists, a dramatic early experience with the weather shaped his interest. He lived in Enid for a while but was mostly raised in the Seiling area. Currently, Gary is the Vice President of Corporate Relations and Weather Development at Griffin Communications LLC, the parent company to KWTV-DT, although the company uses the same single-story building as the studio.Įngland was born in Seiling, Oklahoma to Hazel and Lesley England. He is also known for contributing to the invention of the First Warning map graphic commonly used to show ongoing weather alerts without interrupting regular programming. England was the first on-air meteorologist to alert his viewers of a possible tornado using a commercial Doppler weather radar. Gary England (born October 3, 1939) is the former chief meteorologist for KWTV (channel 9), the CBS-affiliated television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
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