Ocean City's Dan Skeldon Keeps the Weather Real

It's not every day one can personally consult a weatherman before heading to the beach.

On a recent gray morning, Dan Skeldon, NBC40 chief meteorologist and Ocean City resident, whipped out his iPhone—loaded with 47 weather apps—and checked radar.

“Nothing showing,” he declared, so we started walking, sans umbrellas, a couple of blocks to take a photo of Skeldon on the Boardwalk. Tropical Storm Katia churned up the ocean behind him as Skeldon gamely posed for a few shots. A little shower passed over, but Skeldon barely seemed to notice.

We waited out the light rain while munching on Oves doughnuts under the eatery's awning. Skeldon checked his phone again.

“There's nothing showing, go figure,” he mused.

Then, just as quickly, and as Skeldon promised, the shower was over and we walked back to our cars rain-free.

It was a couple of hours before Skeldon, 35, was due at NBC40's Linwood offices to get ready for his two weather reports—four minutes each during 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.

But this guy always seems to be on duty—and doesn't mind a bit.

In eight years as the local weatherman—NBC40 (seen on Channel 4 in the local Comcast cable lineup) is the only television station to cover Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic counties in-depth—and recognizable at a lanky 6-foot-5, Skeldon has developed a following that makes it hard for him to get through ShopRite aisles quickly, because people want to stop and chat about—what else?—the weather.

Skeldon's tireless social networking leading up to and during Hurricane Irene's onslaught in late August seems to have launched him to the next level of notoriety. His Facebook page skyrocketed from 2,000 to more than 4,000 “likes.” Even after the power went out at NBC40, throwing it off the air, Skeldon tweeted away, keeping 3,000 Twitter followers informed.

“At one point, I was on the radio, Facebook and Twitter at the same time,” Skeldon said over coffee at Positively 4^th Street Cafe before our traipse to the Boardwalk.

Much of this networking Skeldon does on his own time, in the wee hours after he's off the air or in the morning before he goes to work.

“Don't you sleep?” asked a Facebook follower after Skeldon posted a 1:45 a.m. status warning of localized flooding to the west and promising to monitor it overnight.

“Saving lives and keeping people safe is the No. 1 reason we have meteorologists,” Skeldon said. “Weather is fascinating, fun and exciting, but it can be dangerous, too.”

Skeldon really is as nice, earnest and concerned about getting the weather prediction right as he seems on TV. He appears a little younger in his Channel 40 logo shirt than he does in the ties and suits he wears on the small screen.

Picture an even more youthful Skeldon—a self-described shy kid—getting bitten by the weather bug some 25 years ago.

“It was during Hurricane Gloria in September 1985, when I was a 9-year-old in Rhode Island,” Skeldon recalled over coffee. “We were without power for nine days and school was closed and I just got hooked on weather. I wanted to know the next time a tree would hit our house.”

Skeldon also remembers a local meteorologist visiting his school—something he does, too, about 100 times a year, also on his own time.

After a stint in Burlington, VT, Skeldon answered an ad for meteorologist at the tiny WMGM-TV 40. Unlike at larger stations, where on-air personalities have staffs and fancy technology to help them, Skeldon does it all on a small budget—his own maps and forecast.

“If I mess up, it's all on me,” he said.

Never having been to New Jersey, Skeldon figured he'd stay a little while, but fell in love with the region, its weather—and interacting with viewers, even though they sometimes are tough on him.

“Social networking is great, but it also allows people to criticize me pretty easily, as well,” he said. “I mean, when I get it wrong, there are some heated comments—'You f------ idiot.' You have to develop a thick skin.”

With his longevity and attention to accuracy, Skeldon has done quite a bit to boost Channel 40's image. He makes up for the lack of Doppler radar and other pricey technology with detail and segments twice as long as those on Philadelphia news shows.

Plus, Skeldon takes super-seriously his responsibility to tell it like it is. He knows exaggerating the possibility of rain, for example, over a summer weekend can mean a hit to tourism.

“I can tell the how the weather in Ocean City is going to be different from Wildwoods,” he said. "I try to play down the hype and keep it real."

Good or bad, Skeldon said he answers all comments he gets on Facebook, Twitter, email or by phone—except when there were simply too many, as there were during Irene.

“I respond to each of them,” Skeldon said. As for those who are harsh, “You either never hear from them again or they end up apologizing. Some have invited me over for dinner.”

Look for Skeldon's annual winter forecast next month. He is intent on getting it right after he feels he blew it last October when he said it wouldn't be a very snowy winter—only to have a big snowfall around Christmas. Skeldon knows he is being a little hard on himself; except for that one storm, the winter of 2011 wasn't too bad at all.

Skeldon has lived in the same rented condo on Asbury Avenue in the quiet central part of town since he moved to Ocean City. Before work and on weekends, he enjoys hitting Kessel's Korner luncheonette in the neighborhood. He dates a lot—sometimes teachers he's met while visiting their classrooms—and loves walking the beach in the offseason with Bailey, his yellow lab-Rhodesian ridgeback mix.

Fall weather is great and all—hurricanes keep it interesting, of course—but it's that wintry stuff that really gives Skeldon goosebumps.

“I can't wait for the snow,” Skeldon said. “I can't say that too loudly, though. Only kids, meteorologists and teachers love snow.”

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Check out an Ocean City Office of Emergency Management video that Dan Skeldon volunteered to narrate: Click on "It Could Happen Here" at ocemergency.com