CBC meteorologist's 50-year career a Guinness record

CBC Nova Scotia's Peter Coade is well-known in the province for his long career. Now the rest of the world officially knows it too.

Coade has earned a spot in the Guinness World Records book because of his long career as a weather forecaster. He started Oct. 1, 1962. As of June 21, that was 50 years, eight months and 21 days.

Coade, 70, never saw this coming.

"This one [forecast] I blew," he said with a laugh.

Coade began his career with the federal weather service. His first appearance forecasting the weather on television was in Goose Bay in 1967, with CBC.

He worked for ATV, now CTV, from March 1990 until September 2007, when he rejoined CBC. He's currently CBC Radio One's morning meteorologist for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

Over the years, Coade has seen all kinds of weather.

He remembers April 1, 1975, when he and other meteorologists got snowed in and couldn't get out of their building in Downsview, north of Toronto, for two days.

"People laughed at that, 'You didn't see this coming?'" he said.

He also remembers the sad day in 1989 when he had to do a weather briefing for the Snowbirds after a fatal crash. It's the empty seat he remembers most.

Then there were the many hurricanes, snowstorms and other weather events. He never gets tired of the sky.

"You can never stop doing it," he said of forecasting. "It's always there."

And it seems no one gets tired of hearing about it either. Coade is frequently stopped on the street.

"They see me and always start with the same thing: 'I suppose you've been asked this a thousand times...' And I always answer," he said.

The previous record for longest career as a weather forecaster was held by Dave Devall at CTV Toronto. His career spanned 48 years, two months and 27 days.