Pete Bouchard

As weather computer models churned late yesterday and spit out results that showed far, far less snow this weekend than originally predicted, some of our local forecasters braced for criticism. Some discussion on Twitter last night:

Blizzard of '78 aftermath in Revere. Photo by Jessica O'Brien. Posted under this CC license.

On the 11 o'clock news last night, Bouchard seemed worried that, after two years of little snow, we wouldn't know how to deal with the foot of snow the National Weather Service now says we could get, starting as early as Thursday night.

Does he have a point? Should the French Toast Alert Level be raised to Orange? Or will the genes from our collective history (35 years ago today, folks) kick in?

After the computer models changed, again, and weatherfolks said we were no longer facing another perfect storm, the Channel 7 weatherman tweeted:

Let's see ... been called a moron, goat, loser ... all in one night. (Plow guys are a little bugged.) And winter hasn't even started!

While Harvey Leonard was only calling for 6-10 inches on Wednesday in tonight's forecast, Pete Bouchard was telling us could get up to 15 inches: "Wow! We're going to get hit pretty hard on the South Shore!" he said - adding Boston is also in that big band.

Harv did get points, however, for mentioning the Blizzard of '78, although he was referring to the Washington storm the other day. Pete, meanwhile, was pooh-poohing the 6,000-person snowball fight in DC: "You won't see us calling it 'Snowmageddon,' he said.

Justin Silverman discusses the legal banhammer Channel 7 is using to try to remove every last copy of the infamous Pete Bouchard measurement video - the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act:

... Under the DMCA's safe harbor provisions, websites are protected from copyright liability for hosting videos posted by users so long as they promptly remove the infringing material when notified by the copyright holder. WHDH didn't want its weatherman creating a storm, so as the copyright owner of the news program it could request that YouTube pull the video from its site.

The DMCA's notice-and-takedown mechanism puts the onus on the individual who posted the material to send a counter-notice asking that the material be put back up and usually raising some defense to copyright infringement, such as fair use. In this case there's a fairly strong argument that the 27-second clip of Bouchard is fair. The amount of the original broadcast used is very small, the purpose of the clip is to spur public discussion, and there is arguably no effect on WHDH's news market. It's likely WHDH either didn't consider fair use before ordering the clip's takedown, or it simply didn't care.

He notes there's currently a YouTube fair-use case in federal court.

California Fire News tries to get a rise out of Our Pete with this message on Twitter:

Boston weatherman Pete Bouchard we wish you well in your new endeavors at WalMart

Pete refuses to swallow the bait:

Stick to the flooding and fires folks.

Earlier:
In case you missed it.

The Herald catches up with Channel 7's general manager, who says what appeared to be a Magnum moment was actually Bouchard getting tripped up by a technical glitch:

... "It clearly wasn't intended the way people are portraying it," Wayland said. ...

UPDATE: YouTube has taken down the clip because of a "copyright claim" from Channel 7. Fail Blog still has it up, link in the comments, but in case it disappears from there, it's a capture of Bouchard talking about snow totals on Jan. 18. He points to a listing for Princeton and says "the biggest amount that I could find, almost as big as me, about nine inches." And then he glances off to the side, as if he's expecting a giant hook to come pull him off the set.

Pete Bouchard puts together a pretty impressive weather package:

Via Wicked Gay Blog.

What the Hell was WHDH thinking when they booted Todd Gross (a scientist) and replaced him with Pete "At Milk & Cookies Time..." Bouchard? The nitwit couldn't keep up with Romper Room! Did they pluck Bouchard from a special ed class in Newton? And what's with that Phillipino chick's war paint and collagen suction cups? Just wonderin'.

On learning that another woman loves her some Pete Bouchard, Amy's friends try to rile her up, but she refuses to hate somebody with such exquisite taste in weathermen:

... I cannot muster up the hate for this Dee person. For we both enjoy the finer things in life. A balding man who loves science and the Police. A good man, who somehow ended up at a clusterfuck of a television station. ...

And Dee is at the head of it:

... Weather forecasts, no matter how much humidity or snow is expected, are so much more delightful when Pete makes them lyrically inclined. Come back PB! ...

Pete's profile.

Amy's dew point rises on seeing Channel 7's new morning weatherman, Jeremy Reiner, whom she notes looks a lot like Pete Bouchard's love child.

Todd Gross speaks about his firing by WHDH:

... As is normal, I was given notice, given time to collect things, and then invited back next week [to take care of personal business]. This happened just prior to the 4pm newscast and was not very dramatic as reported. ...

Via Mark, who says the whole affair makes him a bit nervous about anonymous blog comments.

Amy, meanwhile, hopes Channel 7 makes Pete Bouchard its chief meteorologist:

... Because he rules, and I can actually enjoy watching him if he's on the evening news instead of the morning show. And, while he holds less esteem in my heart, I do hope that things are okay with Todd.