George Winterling Collection

Archive

-

Jacksonville History Center

Name/Title

George Winterling Collection

Entry/Object ID

2017.055.1

Scope and Content

George Alfred Winterling (born September 1, 1931 in New Jersey) was the Chief Metereologist at WJXT, Channel 4 in Jacksonville Florida from 1962 to 2009. He was the creator of the "heat index" and helped develop modern forecasting. Winterling moved with his family to Jacksonville at age 10. He graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1949 and joined the United States Air Force. After discovering that cadet training required two years of college, he chose meteorology and was sent to Weather Observers School at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois. He was stationed for a year at Turner Air Force Base in Albany, Georgia, then attended Intermediate Meteorology School at Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater. He was posted to Shemya Air Force Base in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska where he observed the Pacific Ocean's killer storms. After leaving the service in 1954, he attended Jacksonville Junior College (now Jacksonville University), transferred to Florida State University and earned a meteorology degree in 1957. He was initially employed by the United States Weather Bureau (now known as the National Weather Service) and stayed there for five years. Hurricane Donna was a major 1960 hurricane which made landfall at Marathon, moved into the Gulf of Mexico, came ashore north of Naples, crossed the state and returned to the Atlantic Ocean at Daytona Beach before skirting the east coast all the way to Canada. Over 17 days, the storm was responsible for over 350 deaths and $900 million in damages. The hurricane piqued Winterling's interest. It convinced him that "the media needed knowledgeable persons doing weathercasts in times of emergencies" such as hurricanes. In 1962, Winterling approached WJXT management with a new idea: add a meteorologist to the news broadcast to present a weather forecast. The idea was accepted and he was hired for the job. Less than two years later, Winterling was the only local forecaster to warn Jacksonville residents that Hurricane Dora would make landfall on the First Coast. Winterling has been a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) since 1963 and his broadcasts carried their Seal of Approval. In the early days before satellite pictures, he created and copyrighted the space-view maps to portray weather systems across the country, and began the practice of predicting rainfall probability. In 1969, Winterling was appointed to the Board of Radio and Television Weathercasting and redesigned the AMS Seal of Approval during 1973. He was employed by Jacksonville University as an adjunct professor beginning in 1975, teaching meteorology through 1994. To account for the combination of summer heat and humidity, he created the "humiture" calculation in 1978, which the National Weather Service adopted as heat index the following year. Winterling received an outstanding service award from the AMS in 1984 for his use of animation to enable viewers to better understand weather phenomenon. He became a Certified Consulting Meteorologist after passing the AMS exam in 1989. (This biographical sketch comes from Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Winterling). Mr. Winterling donated this collection of his papers to JHS in 2017.

Collection

George Winterling Collection

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Archive

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Other Documents

Nomenclature Class

Documentary Objects

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Archive Details

Date(s) Material Assembled

1954 - 2017

Archive Items Details

Date(s) of Creation

1873 - 2017

Title

My Life-Origin of Winterling Family 1931-2012

Description

"My Life" plus DVD, 96 pages

Date(s) of Creation

1931 - 2012

Container

Location JHS Archives, Roonm 202 Container Box 1 Folder 1

Notes

Public Access

Title

My Album-Origin of Winterling Family and some pictures 1873-1975

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 2

Notes

Public Access

Title

George Winterline-Notes Along the Pathway of Life

Description

Handwritten notebook

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 3

Notes

Public Access

Title

History of George Winterling on TV

Description

Story by Charlie Patton, Times-Union Staff writer September 6, 1998

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 4

Notes

Public Access

Title

Date With Dora by George Winterling

Description

Article written by George Winterling September 9-10, 1964

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 5

Notes

Public Access

Title

Outstanding Hailstorms in Jacksonville

Description

Handwritten article and notes by George Winterling starting 1907-1990

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 6

Notes

Public Access

Title

Florida Recent Cool Cycle Commencing with Snow at Jacksonville

Description

Written by George Winterling, appeared in Weatherwise, Vol. 20, April 1967

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 7

Notes

Public Access

Title

George Winterling's Facebook discussions on Hurrican Irma

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 8

Notes

Public Access

Title

Letter from George Winterling to Campus Comedy Editor, Pleasantville, NY

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 9

Notes

Public Access

Title

Letter to Commander Drexel Poynter, Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, FL

Description

Letter to Commander Poynter about George Winterling and Dow Boykin interested in flying into a hurricane from Roger G. Plaster, Meteorologist in Charge

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 10

Notes

Public Access

Title

WJXT Weather Guides prepared by George Winterling

Description

WJXT 1965 Weather Guide and WJXT Weather Guide for 1972

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 11

Notes

Public Access

Title

Jacksonville University Book

Description

Picture of George Winterling on page 10 enrolling at Jacksonville University 1954

Date(s) of Creation

1954

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 12

Notes

Public Access

Title

Jacksonville Journal article, "His Name's Synonymous with Weather." November 20, 1976

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 13

Notes

Public Access

Title

Jacksonville Journal article, "They Can Do Something About the Weather." June 27, 1980

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 14

Notes

Public Access

Title

Jacksonville Today Magazine, February 1987

Description

Picture of George Winterling on cover, "George Winterling Best Weatherman."

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 15

Notes

Public Access

Title

The New York Times Business Day Article, " A Good Forecaster Is Hard to Find," September 15, 1997

Description

Article with picture, September 15, 1998

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 16

Notes

Public Access

Title

News Chief Article, "At 66, pioneer meteorologist still dedicated to the weather," October 4, 1998

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 17

Notes

Public Access

Title

The Florida-Times Union - Jacksonville Journal Television Guide

Description

George Winterling on the cover and article

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 18

Notes

Public Access

Title

Distinguished Alumni Award 10-25-1990

Description

Photographs of George Winterling, Jacksonville University

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 19

Notes

Public Access

Title

Hurricane Maps of Florida 1900-2005

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 20

Notes

Public Access

Title

Ernest Hemingway's Letter to Editor After 1935 Florida Keys Hurricane

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 21

Notes

Public Access

Title

Hurricane 1989 Tracking Chart with George Winterling

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 22

Notes

Public Access

Title

WJXT Meteorologists Bios

Description

Bio for John Gaughan, Brian Gotter, Doug Kammerer and Glen Wood

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 23

Notes

Public Access

Title

WJXT TV4 Press Release 1973

Description

Announcements and Station Break News

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 24

Notes

Public Access

Title

Death of Washington Post Executive Katharine Graham, July 17, 2001

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 25

Notes

Public Access

Title

George Winterling DVD's

Description

Computer files, environment, weather and history; Hurricane Dora 1964

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 26

Notes

Public Access

Title

George Winterling's WJXT Photos and badge

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 27

Notes

Public Access

Title

Photographs 1963-2011

Description

Photos of George Winterling, Channel 4 and miscellaneous

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 28

Notes

Public Access

Title

George Winterling's WJXT Fans

Container

Location JHS Archives, Room 202 Folder 29

Notes

Public Access

Title

Photo in Frame of George Winterling giving blood

Container

Location JHS Archives, room 202 Folder 30

Notes

Public Access