Jim Cantore

Submission 5,029

About

Jim Cantore is a broadcast meteorologist reporting on extreme weather events for The Weather Channel. The famous weatherman has reported on most major weather events of the past 30 years, including hurricanes like Michael, Harvey and Sandy, as well as various tornadoes and snowstorms. The weatherman's proclivity for reporting on harsh and extreme weather events has made him synonymous with natural disasters, with people making memes expressing concern for their safety once Cantore visits their area for coverage, often under the catchphrase "If You See Jim Cantore, Then It's Time to Get Out of Town" or similar sentiments. One of the weatherman's first brushes with viral fame came from a YouTube video of him kneeing a heckler in the groin during a report on Storm Leon in 2014. Over the years, his name has continued to go viral on social media like Twitter and Facebook in the days leading up to major storms, such as Hurricane Ian in September 2022.

Career

Jim Cantore began working with The Weather Channel after graduating from Lyndon State College in 1986. His lively and humorous personality, tendency to report on notable weather situations, as well as his affinity for making weather forecasts legible to the average viewer has made him a recognizable household figure over the past few decades.

Aside from his career as a well-known meteorologist, Jim Cantore has grown to be associated specifically with natural disasters and extreme weather events, leading to people making jokes about his presence in an area being an ominous sign of imminent disaster since at least the early 2010s.^[1]

Online History

Fleeing from Jim Cantore / When Jim Cantore Is in Your City Memes

As Jim Cantore's online virality in memes grew during the early 2010s, The Weather Channel featured him in a 2011 commercial that made fun of the idea of Cantore as a herald of destruction, showing people panicking when they see Cantore vacationing on their beach and taking his presence to be a sign of an incoming disaster (a sentiment commonly found in memes throughout the 2010s and 2020s). The video was uploaded to YouTube^[2] on June 23rd, 2011, and has gathered over 600,000 views in nearly 10 years (seen below).

On September 3rd, 2019, eBaum's World^[10] collected a series of such Jim Cantore memes in an article about Hurricane Dorian, which also included a common expression used alongside posts and memes about him, declaring "it's Jim Cantore season."

Jim Cantore Kneeing Heckler

On January 29th, 2014, a YouTube fail video of Cantore kneeing a student in the groin during a live weather report was uploaded, going on to gather over 2 million views before being taken down. The video can be accessed via internet archive^[3] or via reupload to The Weather Channel's official YouTube^[4] where it has gathered over 150,000 views in ten years (seen below).

Thundersnow Viral Video

On February 15th, 2015, The Weather Channel uploaded a YouTube^[5] video of Jim Cantore celebrating after seeing thunder and lightning during winter storm Neptune. The ultra-rare phenomenon is known as thundersnow, and Candore's jubilant reaction at catching it on film has amassed over 5 million views on the upload in seven years (seen below).

Accusations of Faking Weather Effects

Over the years during his career, Cantore has also been accused by some of playing up or overexaggerating the effects of various storms to create hype and interest for The Weather Channel's coverage, such as acting as if winds are stronger than they appear. For example, one of the more viral moments this appeared online was during Hurricane Florence in 2018. On September 14th, 2018, Twitter user @gourdnibler posted a viral video of Cantore in North Carolina calling him "dramatic" during his coverage, receiving over 30.3 million views, 541,00 likes and 200,000 retweets in four years (seen below).

So dramatic! Dude from the weather channel bracing for his life, as 2 dudes just stroll past. #HurricaneFlorence pic.twitter.com/8FRyM4NLbL

— Tony scar. (@gourdnibler) September 14, 2018

Hurricane Ian Coverage

In late September 2022, as Hurricane Ian neared the coast of Florida, memes and discussions about Jim Cantore reemerged online leading up to the storm making landfall. For example, on September 23rd, Facebook^[7] page Charlotte County FL, News posted a meme about Cantore, gathering nearly 20,000 reactions and over 12,000 shares in three days (seen below).

On September 25th, 2022, Jim Cantore landed in Clearwater, Florida, and launched a series of discussions about imminent disaster for a hurricane previously thought to be a category 2. News coverage after Cantore's live broadcast from Clearwater beach estimates Hurricane Ian to turn into a category 3 by the 26th.^[6]

On September 25th, the Facebook^[8] page Florida Weather posted about Jim Cantore landing in Clearwater, Florida, and gathered over 1,000 reactions in roughly 24 hours. The post was shared by the Facebook^[9] page North Carolina's Weather Authority alongside the caption, "He’s not in North Carolina so we’re good 😂," and gathered over 5,000 reactions in a similar timeframe (seen below).