Who Is Route 20 Weather? Let Me Tell You About Myself
I have been asked a few times over the past several weeks – Who Is Route 20 Weather?
So, let me introduce myself. My name is Rob Lightbown, I am the owner, weather forecaster, cook and bottle washer of Route 20 Weather.
Let Me Tell You A Little About Myself:
I have always loved studying the weather. I was watching thunderstorms with fascination at the age of 4. During elementary and middle school, I used to hand draw my own weather maps and present the daily weather to my class. I was the kid always staring out the window looking at the weather. In fact, you’ll still find me doing this same thing on most days.
My professional weather forecasting career began right after I graduated High School in 1992. For a little over 3 years, I was a student intern with the National Weather Service in Caribou, Maine. In that position, I learned how to analyze weather patterns, write a daily weather forecast, observe every day weather conditions and present those findings to individuals, including pilots, farmers and anyone else who needed weather information.
In the Winter of 1994, I formed Crown Weather Services. Crown Weather Services tracks and forecasts tropical storm and hurricane activity across the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. I have been forecasting tropical storms and hurricanes for over 25 years and have covered important hurricanes, including Opal (1995), Fran (1996), Floyd (1999), Katrina & Rita (2005), Ike (2008), Irene (2011), Sandy (2012), Irma & Maria (2017), Michael (2018) & Dorian (2019).
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In addition, I have lived in New England all my life and have built extensive experience forecasting New England weather. I grew up on the New Hampshire Seacoast, then lived in Northern Maine (Caribou, Presque Isle) for 26 years before first moving to Indian Orchard in the summer of 2017 and then moving to Sturbridge in November of 2021. You could say that I have over 40 years of experience forecasting the weather in New England.
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My wife, Meg, and I now live in Sturbridge and have found that the regular weather coverage in Western & Central Mass is sorely lacking & Route 20 Weather was formed to fill that gap.
Why Did I Start Route 20 Weather?
I started Route 20 Weather in August, 2018 with a goal to use all of my weather forecasting experience and provide Western & Central Mass with accurate, timely and honest weather forecasts.
My philosophy with forecasting the weather is simple. Integrity, honesty, clarity and accountability is everything to me. I work hard to deliver weather information that is simple and easy to understand, without the hype and noise that comes from many forms of media. If a forecast is wrong, I hold myself accountable for that. I have very high levels of standard in what I do.
I strongly believe that those of you in Western and Central Mass deserve a forecast that explains potential outcomes, in order to protect the lives of people and property. My commitment with you, the Route 20 Weather reader, is to provide a top notch, value added weather service, that meets or exceeds your expectations.
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Finally, know that Route 20 Weather is personal, dedicated and experienced. I am not a giant weather corporation; just the opposite, Route 20 Weather is just one person (me) giving you weather information that is valuable and potentially life saving.
