Weather affects everyone. There’s no hiding from it, especially in Rhode Island. Our geography is unique and our proximity to the ocean makes predicting the weather here difficult. Our local and national weather sources do a pretty good job of keeping us informed, and knowledge is power. The mission at Weather In RI is to provide Rhode Island and surrounding areas with an informative and objective connection to local weather. Rhode Island is the definition of a close-knit community, and it’s no surprise that weather is a common topic of conversation here. Reasons to complain about the weather are numerous and abundant, and that’s everywhere you go, but when it’s good, it’s good, so get out and enjoy it! This is a public forum; Questions, comments, and contributions are encouraged.

Brian Chevalier

Social Mediarologist

Weather In RI

#401wx

WHO IS BRIAN?

Brian is lifelong Rhode Island resident raised in Coventry, Rhode Island. On August 19, 1991, just weeks before Brian started kindergarten, Hurricane Bob made landfall in Rhode Island as a Category 2 storm. As a result, a large tree fell on his grandparents’ house. The sight of that tree down on the house, with the roots exposed and other storm damage evident in the yard, flipped a switch in Brian’s brain; He instantly became obsessed with weather.

On one particular quahogging trip with his grandfather in Narragansett Bay, Brian first learned the story of the Hurricane of 1938. “All those houses were destroyed,” his grandfather said, pointing in the direction of the Warwick shoreline.

A snow-lover at an early age, Brian eagerly anticipated any possibility of a snow day. He was no stranger to the scrolling bottom line of school delays and cancellations on the morning news and his mother’s go-to snow day source was B101. Jubilant excitement when a snow day was called generally woke up the rest of the house. Growing up in the 1990s, there were a number of high-impact snow events that resulted in hours of unwanted shoveling. Brian often proclaimed “This was the biggest snowstorm I can remember” which was at times factually correct, but his father, and many other older role models in his life, always replied with their version of “This was nothing compared to the Blizzard of ’78.”

Brian graduated Coventry High School in 2004 and went on to attend the University of Rhode Island, Community College of Rhode Island, and Rhode Island College. After bouncing around undecided for way too many semesters, Brian completed his Associates Degree in General Business from CCRI in 2009. His thought process behind pursuing that specific degree was that “pretty much everything is a business” which left the door open for him to pursue employment anywhere business needed to be managed.

The restaurant industry was kind to Brian during high school and through college. Starting at the bottom like so many others, his first job was in the kitchen at his local McDonald’s. It offered the flexibility he needed to continue school and gave him invaluable real-world experience that helped him in future employment opportunities.

After 4 years of McPloyment, Brian had an opportunity he couldn’t pass up with the Dunkin’ Donuts in Apponaug before they put in rotary. It was here where he got to experience firsthand the infamous “December Debacle.” The date was December 13, 2007. The forecast called for snow to begin around 2:00 p.m. Flakes started flying around 10:30 a.m. The roads had yet to be pretreated and everything stuck.

Around lunchtime schools and businesses began letting everyone out early. The influx of cars on the road paired with the hazardous conditions led to one of the worst traffic jams in Rhode Island history. Most notable was the time it took to get school children home with some stranded on school buses for 8 hours with no way to reach their parents.

Brian was working the front counter at Dunkin’ Donuts that day. He was only supposed to work until noon but it became obvious that his relief was not going to make it in anytime soon when traffic hadn’t moved outside the front doors for over an hour. The same green Jeep sat front and center in Brian’s view between other cars quickly becoming covered in snow.

Working on tips, Brian took it upon himself to bring out Boxes of Joe to offer hot coffee to those stuck in the Debacle on Greenwich Ave. The people stuck in the actual drive thru line didn’t appreciate the service given first to those not in line for coffee, but a few extra bucks were made nonetheless. Brian’s thoughtfulness turned out to be a bad move as many of the coffee recipients acquired public restroom needs, which that particular Dunkin’ Donuts was unable to accommodate.

Several hours after traffic came to a screeching halt, cars finally started moving. The next day there were no shortage of conversations that began with “How long did it take you to get home?” T.F. Green Airport only measured 8.2” of snow, but the timing and intensity was enough to overwhelm plow truck drivers and cripple the state.

After his stint at Dunkin’ Donuts, Brian became a waiter at Cracker Barrel in Coventry, RI. It was at this stage in his life when his infatuation with weather was reinforced. The Great Flood of 2010 devastated the state and it hit Kent County especially hard. Firmly believing that everything happens for a reason, Brian had an opportunity to move out from Mom and Dad’s and he took the first place he could find. It was a Quonset Hut off Arnold Road in Coventry and the rent was $150/week with nothing included.

The Quonset Hut was technically shelter and it had electric heat and no window suitable for an air conditioner. One of the “selling features” of the unit was the “cross-breeze” which was advertised to cool off the building by opening the front and back doors. Brian soon learned that when 95° air blows through a 90° bedroom, there’s not much of a cooling effect. On July 22, 2011, the high temp at T.F. Green Airport reached 101°. After a long shift at The Barrel, Brian came home to the worst sleeping weather of his life, with a temperature of 95° inside the house.

A month later, Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a Tropical Storm just before landfall in New York with sustained winds of 65 MPH. Brian slept on the couch that night on the off chance a tree came down on the bedroom. 5 wicked tall trees fell in Brian’s backyard, thankfully none of which hit the house. Unsurprisingly, he, and hundreds of thousands of other Rhode Islanders, awoke to no power. Fortunately his landlord, who lived one street over and directly adjacent to his backyard, did have power. Looking out for his tenant’s best interests, Brian’s landlord connected an extension cord that ran about halfway from his house to the Quonset Hut.

A rookie at living on his own for the first time, Brian did not have an extension cord to bring power into his house. There were no extension cords to be found at Benny’s, Walmart, or any of the other handful of other places that had did still have power. In a moment of pure brilliance, Brian wondered if that set of Christmas lights that came with the house would be suitable to deliver power. It turned out to be good enough to charge a phone and laptop and act as a source of light. Of course they were the blinking kind, but it got the job done. After 6 days in the dark, Brian’s power was finally restored.

While all that was going on, Cracker Barrel happened to be one of the only restaurants in town that had power. Brian made bank that week, working hard to deliver hot eggs and toast to people waiting up to 3 hours for a table. There were few other options available to these folks. Betty, a widow from West Greenwich, became a brief regular of Brian’s as her heavily wooded driveway was 14 telephone poles long. National Grid told her she was literally last on the list to be restored because 11 utility poles needed to be replaced and hers was the only home affected by that particular outage.

Irene was a doozy for Brian and for much of Rhode Island. He thought it would be a long time before another storm like that would threaten the area, but just over a year later, Superstorm Sandy was on its way. Despite making a post-tropical landfall in New Jersey, the immense size of the storm brought huge impacts to the state, especially along the coast. Betty came back to see Brian at Cracker Barrel one more time and stories of storms past were exchanged a final time.

As the years progressed, Brian’s love for weather continued to grow. The winter of 2015 was the last big one for Southern New England, and big snows became bittersweet. Brian had left the restaurant business and had taken a path into the automotive industry. As a kid, Brian remembered riding by the dealerships on Route 2 after a snowstorm thinking, “Man, whoever gets paid to clean the snow off of all those cars is going to make a lot of money with this one!” It was only after his first winter in the car biz that he realized it was the dealership employees themselves that were responsible for snow removal…even on their scheduled day off. The term “All hands on deck” became cringeworthy.

In mid-November of 2018, forecast models began hinting at the possibility for an early season snow event. Without a degree in Meteorology, but with a broad enough knowledge about it, Brian created the Weather In RI Facebook Page. He also bought the URL http://www.WeatherInRI.com. His goal was to provide official information from local and national sources to inform Rhode Islanders about upcoming weather events.

Brian learned early on that posting the “worst case scenario” forecast model graphics was the most effective way to get likes and shares, but his goal was never to become a hype page for the clicks, it was to simply to share what reliable sources were actually forecasting. The fact that the November snowstorm over-performed and got a lot of action on his Facebook Page gave Brian the confidence that there was not just an interest in local weather, but a demand for it.

Not long after starting the Weather In RI Facebook Page, Brian received his first message from a follower. “What are your thoughts for Thanksgiving?” Brian was humbled, and despite being a newly found amateur forecaster, he replied “Cold and dry. Maybe record cold.” It turned out to be the coldest Thanksgiving in over 100 years.

One night shortly thereafter, after more Coors Lights than he could remember, Brian accidentally coined the term “Social Mediarologist” which he still uses to this day. Brian has never claimed to be a Meteorologist, but would consider himself a weather forecaster. It would be disrespectful to the plethora of actual Meteorologists who Brian idolized to call himself one without the proper education, but it is clever enough for his target audience to realize that he is more of a weather enthusiast whose mission is to keep people informed and involved in local weather.

The Weather In RI Facebook Page has grown to over 18,000 followers, and the Weather In RI Facebook Group boasts over 15,000 members. Brian has posted his own 7-Day forecast each day for over 1,000 days in a row. He has no desire to end that streak. He volunteers his time to run the Page and maintains a full time job outside of the weather field. Some of the people Brian looks up to include Tony Petrarca of Channel 12, Jeff Desnoyers of Channel 6, Anthony Macari of Channel 10, Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel, everyone involved with the National Weather Service, and anyone who shares a passion for chasing a storm.

Brian’s hobbies include photography, chasing sunsets, playing the guitar, seeing how long he can go without turning the heat on in the house in the fall, and making snow accumulation maps. Brian is a daily contributor to CoCoRAHS, has earned a SKYWARN Spotter ID, and has dinner with Grandma on Wednesdays.

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PRIVACY POLICY

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Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 19, 2018

This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You.

We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy has been created with the help of the Privacy Policy Generator.

Interpretation and Definitions

Interpretation

The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

Account means a unique account created for You to access our Service or parts of our Service.
Company (referred to as either “the Company”, “We”, “Us” or “Our” in this Agreement) refers to Weather In RI.
Cookies are small files that are placed on Your computer, mobile device or any other device by a website, containing the details of Your browsing history on that website among its many uses.
Country refers to: United States
Device means any device that can access the Service such as a computer, a cellphone or a digital tablet.
Personal Data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.
Service refers to the Website.
Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analyzing how the Service is used.
Third-party Social Media Service refers to any website or any social network website through which a User can log in or create an account to use the Service.
Usage Data refers to data collected automatically, either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).
Website refers to Weather In RI, accessible from www.weatherinri.com.
You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable.

Collecting and Using Your Personal Data

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data

While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

First name and last name
Usage Data

Usage Data

Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service.

Usage Data may include information such as Your Device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.

Information from Third-Party Social Media Services

The Company allows You to access and use the Service through the following Third-party Social Media Services:

Google
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

If You decide to register through or otherwise grant us access to a Third-Party Social Media Service, We may collect Personal data that is already associated with Your Third-Party Social Media Service’s account, such as Your name, Your email address, Your activities, or Your contact list associated with that account.

You may also have the option of sharing additional information with the Company through Your Third-Party Social Media Service’s account. If You choose to provide such information and Personal Data, during registration or otherwise, You are giving the Company permission to use, share, and store it in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy.

Tracking Technologies and Cookies

We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze Our Service. The technologies We use may include:

Cookies or Browser Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on Your Device. You can instruct Your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if You do not accept Cookies, You may not be able to use some parts of our Service. Unless you have adjusted Your browser setting so that it will refuse Cookies, our Service may use Cookies.
Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Service may use local stored objects (or Flash Cookies) to collect and store information about Your preferences or Your activity on our Service. Flash Cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as those used for Browser Cookies. For more information on how You can delete Flash Cookies, please read “Where can I change the settings for disabling, or deleting local shared objects?” available at https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/disable-local-shared-objects-flash.html#main_Where_can_I_change_the_settings_for_disabling__or_deleting_local_shared_objects_
Web Beacons. Certain sections of our Service and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of a certain section and verifying system and server integrity).

Cookies can be “Persistent” or “Session” Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on Your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close Your web browser. Learn more about cookies: Cookies: What Do They Do?.

We use both Session and Persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:

Necessary / Essential CookiesType: Session CookiesAdministered by: UsPurpose: These Cookies are essential to provide You with services available through the Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that You have asked for cannot be provided, and We only use these Cookies to provide You with those services.
Cookies Policy / Notice Acceptance CookiesType: Persistent CookiesAdministered by: UsPurpose: These Cookies identify if users have accepted the use of cookies on the Website.
Functionality CookiesType: Persistent CookiesAdministered by: UsPurpose: These Cookies allow us to remember choices You make when You use the Website, such as remembering your login details or language preference. The purpose of these Cookies is to provide You with a more personal experience and to avoid You having to re-enter your preferences every time You use the Website.

For more information about the cookies we use and your choices regarding cookies, please visit our Cookies Policy or the Cookies section of our Privacy Policy.

Use of Your Personal Data

The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

To provide and maintain our Service, including to monitor the usage of our Service.
To manage Your Account: to manage Your registration as a user of the Service. The Personal Data You provide can give You access to different functionalities of the Service that are available to You as a registered user.
For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services You have purchased or of any other contract with Us through the Service.
To contact You: To contact You by email, telephone calls, SMS, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as a mobile application’s push notifications regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products or contracted services, including the security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.
To provide You with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless You have opted not to receive such information.
To manage Your requests: To attend and manage Your requests to Us.
For business transfers: We may use Your information to evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Data held by Us about our Service users is among the assets transferred.
For other purposes: We may use Your information for other purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Service, products, services, marketing and your experience.

We may share Your personal information in the following situations:

With Service Providers: We may share Your personal information with Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service, to contact You.
For business transfers: We may share or transfer Your personal information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of Company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of Our business to another company.
With Affiliates: We may share Your information with Our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. Affiliates include Our parent company and any other subsidiaries, joint venture partners or other companies that We control or that are under common control with Us.
With business partners: We may share Your information with Our business partners to offer You certain products, services or promotions.
With other users: when You share personal information or otherwise interact in the public areas with other users, such information may be viewed by all users and may be publicly distributed outside. If You interact with other users or register through a Third-Party Social Media Service, Your contacts on the Third-Party Social Media Service may see Your name, profile, pictures and description of Your activity. Similarly, other users will be able to view descriptions of Your activity, communicate with You and view Your profile.
With Your consent: We may disclose Your personal information for any other purpose with Your consent.

Retention of Your Personal Data

The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Transfer of Your Personal Data

Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company’s operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by Your submission of such information represents Your agreement to that transfer.

The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information.

Disclosure of Your Personal Data

Business Transactions

If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, Your Personal Data may be transferred. We will provide notice before Your Personal Data is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.

Law enforcement

Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Other legal requirements

The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

Comply with a legal obligation
Protect and defend the rights or property of the Company
Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
Protect the personal safety of Users of the Service or the public
Protect against legal liability

Security of Your Personal Data

The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Children’s Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. If You are a parent or guardian and You are aware that Your child has provided Us with Personal Data, please contact Us. If We become aware that We have collected Personal Data from anyone under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, We take steps to remove that information from Our servers.

If We need to rely on consent as a legal basis for processing Your information and Your country requires consent from a parent, We may require Your parent’s consent before We collect and use that information.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.