When Robert Shiels graduated from the University of Michigan in 1991, he knew what he wanted: a full-time job in meteorology. For months he applied for positions in television, but it was the National Weather Service that came knocking.
His parents started “turning up the heat,” Mr. Shiels recalled. He was unemployed, it was 1992, and the government was offering him a future. But Mr. Shiels instead began calling and visiting TV stations. He delivered a demo tape in person to then-WTOL-TV news director, Rick Gevers, despite being told to mail it in. There were no job openings, but Mr. Gevers granted him a meeting anyways.
A few months later, WTOL’s chief meteorologist Charlie Umpenhour needed leave for several weeks, and the weather team needed help covering shows. Mr. Shiels got a call, and shortly after he made his first-ever live TV appearance on WTOL (then Toledo 11). The week-long experience helped him land his first full-time job elsewhere. Nearly two years later, in 1994, he returned to WTOL as a staffer.
Now, after 27 years of service, Mr. Shiels is preparing to bid Channel 11 farewell. He will remain on air through the spring severe weather season, but will step down from the position of chief meteorologist come sunny summer.
“Over the years, you have heard me talk about my Busia many times,” Mr. Shiels said. “One of Helen’s favorite sayings was ‘give somebody else a chance.’ I have decided it is time to do just that.”
Whirlwinds
Mr. Shiels didn’t grow up thinking he’d be a meteorologist, but he did grow up loving science. In college, he thought he’d specialize in urban planning until a “stroke of luck” led him to a friend majoring in atmospheric science. Mr. Shiels was intrigued, and the friend introduced him to the department head.
When Mr. Shiels announced that he was switching from civil engineering to atmospheric science, his parents just stared at him. After a long beat, they broke their silence: “What do you mean?” Then the important question: “Are you going to be on TV?”
Mr. Shiels landed his first full-time job at KDUB-TV in Dubuque, Iowa. Not only was he the chief meteorologist, he was the only meteorologist. He worked the weekdays, college and high school students behind the cameras. Ten months later he was at WSBT-TV in South Bend, Ind., where he worked for exactly 364 days.
In the summer of 1994, WTOL’s Charlie Umpenhour announced his retirement. Mr. Shiels’ car had no air conditioning, so he drove to his interview in Toledo in shorts and a T-shirt, stopping at a fast food restaurant to don his suit.
In the end, news director C.J. Beutien “took a chance on me,” Mr. Shiels said. It had taken him nearly two years after graduation to find a full-time job. Another two years after, and he was the chief meteorologist at WTOL 11.
“It was like a whirlwind,” he said. “For most people it takes years and years to try to move up the ladder. It just happened so fast.”
So fast, in fact, that he didn’t have time to feel to feel nervous. As a young meteorologist in an esteemed position, he was eager to impress. In December 1995, the National Weather Service forecast an 8-inch snowfall locally. But Mr. Shiels, looking at the computer models, noted the southwest winds one to two miles off the ground. That didn’t look like a major storm.
Mr. Shiels walked into C.J. Beutien's office and guaranteed that if there was an inch or more of snow on the ground the following day at 5 p.m., he would do the weather live on Summit Street in shorts and a T-shirt.
"As long as you back it up,” said Mr. Beutien. “You have to back it up."
Mr. Shiels had trouble sleeping that night. The next day, “giant snowflakes” began falling at 11 a.m. Mr. Shiels began to sweat (internally, of course). By the early afternoon, though, the temperature had warmed, and the clouds were leaking rain.
Living in weather
Not every forecast turns out so well, and it’s an art that is by nature variable. Scientific advancements since 1994 have certainly made forecasts more accurate — Mr. Shiels estimates that “40 hours out” was once the limit for a reliable forecast, whereas now he call a Friday storm on Monday.
Of course, people measure accuracy differently. Mr. Shiels’ father often complained about weather forecasts, because he worked as a deliveryman. His father “lived in the weather,” Mr. Shiels recalled, learning much about weather patterns just by observing them. That memory has caused Mr. Shiels to see his work as “just supplementing what people know about the weather, rather than trying to ‘teach’ them.” He fuses confidence with caution, presenting probable projections while clarifying that they’re just that: projections.
Some people get into meteorology because they’re fascinated by severe weather. Not Mr. Shiels — he likes the weather nice, thank you. His most memorable moment at WTOL, though, came on the night of June 5, 2010, when he looked at computer guidance and saw “a set up that I had never seen in 16 years.” He ended up on the air for six hours straight, giving two-days advance warning for what became an EF4 tornado with winds exceeding 175 mph.
In the aftermath, Mr. Shiels helped with the clean-up. He’ll never forget the full-size refrigerator-freezer that had been flung 300 yards from a Millbury house and dumped in a stand of trees.
“In weather you train for that night,” he said. “You practice what you're going to do and how you're going to react.” On pleasant days work can be breezy, but on nights like those, “it's a lot of pressure, and a lot of value.’"
Home Away from Home
When he first arrived in Toledo, Mr. Shiels wondered how long he might stay. One year? Two? Five? But he quickly grew comfortable. He already had fond memories of the Glass City from childhood, when his father brought the family down to the waterfront, and it was near his hometown of Detroit. He was most moved, though, by the warmth of the community.
“When you've been in the same TV market for so long, everyone recognizes you wherever you go,” Mr. Shiels said. Some teased him about having a job where he was allowed to be wrong half the time; others thanked him for “bringing the nice weather,” to which Mr. Shiels would want to laugh and say, “I really didn't have anything to do with it.”
Moving on will be difficult. Mr. Shiels isn’t retiring, but will be “doing things where I can set my own hours.” He’s looking forward to driving home earlier than midnight. Most importantly, he’s excited to spend more time with his family — eating dinner, helping with homework — and his dog Indy, the breakout star of his Facebook page.
“It's funny to hear people say, ‘You've earned it,’ and I don't know if I'd put it that way,” said Mr. Shiels. “The job and the station have been so great to me, and I owe them a lot.”
WTOL viewers are invited text their well wishes to Mr. Shiels at 419-248-1100.
First Published April 9, 2021, 12:00 p.m.
