CBC meteorologist Peter Coade retires after record-setting career
He's in the Guinness World Records book, had a beer named after him and for decades he's been a comforting presence to Maritimers as he answers the question, "What's the weather going to be like today?" After 54 years at the job, CBC meteorologist Peter Coade is retiring Friday.
With his down-to-earth demeanour and warm voice, Coade has been a fixture on Maritime television and radio.
However, just because he's retiring doesn't mean he's done predicting the weather.
"I'll always look up at the sky and I'll always look at the weather charts and determine what the weather is going to be like the next day or so, whether I am getting paid for it or not," said Coade, 74.
The doting grandfather says he's retiring to spend more time with his family, which includes his wife, two children and four grandchildren.
Coade's journey into forecasting weather began with less than noble intentions. In Grade 11 at St. Patrick's High School in Halifax, the principal came into his class to talk about job-shadowing opportunities at the CBC. While students raised their hands when asked if they were interested in being a camera operator or television presenter, no one raised their hand when meteorologist was brought up.
"I was smart enough to think that this sounds like a day out of school," said Coade, who ended up spending a day job-shadowing CBC meteorologist Rube Hornstein.
Out of that opportunity, a career that included many stops was born.
Coade joined the federal government weather service on Oct. 1, 1962, where he was trained as meteorologist. Over the years he worked in Halifax, Truro, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L., and Toronto.
In the early days, Coade worked extensively in radio. In Happy Valley-Goose Bay in the late 1960s, he presented the weather each evening on CBC Television to an audience made up mostly of United States Air Force personnel and their families stationed in Labrador during the Cold War.
On-air pranks
The camera in Labrador was positioned waist up, which led to some shenanigans.
"I've had my shoes tied while I was on air, I've had my fly pulled down," said Coade.
He later worked for Toronto radio station CFRB and was also the meteorologist for the Canadian International Air Show for many years.
Hurricane Juan and White Juan
Beginning in March 1990, Coade worked for ATV and ASN.
The years 2003 and 2004 proved to be notable ones for weather in Nova Scotia as the province got blasted by Hurricane Juan and White Juan, respectively.
Hurricane Juan brought winds of more than 145 km/h and knocked out power to 300,000 homes and businesses and downed countless trees. Two people died as a result of the Sept. 29, 2003, Category 2 storm.
"A lot of people that weren't listening to me were surprised at that storm," said Coade.
He says some Maritimers watch U.S. TV stations for forecasts because the weather usually goes west to east. Hurricane Juan didn't follow that pattern and instead came up straight due south of Halifax. As a result, it wasn't on the radar of U.S. forecasters.
A mere five months later, the massive snowstorm known as White Juan dumped 50 to 95 centimetres of snow on Nova Scotia.
Coade also predicted that, but he made one mistake.
"Stupidly though, I didn't bring in a change of underwear or socks, even though I knew I wasn't going to home for a couple of days because I was trapped in the city," said the Tantallon-area resident.
In September 2007, Coade rejoined CBC.
Coade's career has come with some unusual accolades.
Coade Word beer
In 2013, he was honoured with the Guinness world record for longest career as a weather forecaster.
"Every day I've worked since then, it's another record," said Coade.
In 2015, a Cape Breton microbrewery released a beer named after Coade. Big Spruce Brewing's Coade Word: Snowmaggedon Winter Warmer is an eight per cent alcohol beer aged with rum-soaked cinnamon, vanilla beans and fresh ginger.
It's Coade-approved.
"I was very honoured by that and it's a good beer, too. It has my strength to it. I like a dark, strong beer," he said.
As Coade looks to spend more time with his family and on his boat, he's also pondering writing a book to share his many stories.
"I tell people so many stories and they say, 'You've got to write that down,'" said Coade.
He'll miss his job, where no two days were the same.
Coade has been a fixture of Maritime life for decades, trying to make sense of something that is often unpredictable.
