Dewey “Gits ‘er Done”

Dewey used a portable weather station to monitor the amount and rate of precipitation and the speed and direction of wind at Larry the Cable Guy’s July 4 performance at Memorial Stadium.

The production company that taped Larry the Cable Guy’s July 4 performance at Memorial Stadium had so much invested in the event that they turned to our very own Ken Dewey, a School of Natural Resources climatologist, to monitor weather on site during the performance.

A crew of about 100 taped the performance to air later on The Comedy Channel. The budget for the live and taped shows is more than $1 million, so the producer, Alan Blomquist, bought insurance against bad weather. The insurance company required him to hire a weather and climate expert to provide historic climate data and to monitor the weather the evening of the performance. Blomquist got in touch with the mayor’s office, where a staff person recommended Dewey.

Larry the Cable Guy received a personal briefing from Dewey before the performance.

“This was the most unusual weather and climate task I have had in my 30 years at UNL, ” Dewey said. “It gave new meaning to ‘Applied Climate Science.’ “

Besides monitoring the amount and rate of rain and the speed and direction of wind, Dewey ended up providing up-to-the-minute weather briefings to the executive producer, the crew, and Larry himself.  Weather was particularly critical for the show’s opening, when a stunt man dressed as Larry parachuted in to kick off the performance, and at the end, with a fireworks finale.

Storms the night of July 3 and low clouds on the 4th prevented practice jumps. It had cleared by the time the live jump was scheduled, but the sky diver sustained minor injuries when a sudden gust of wind came up during his landing on the stage. “The winds were swirling, but they did not exceed the limit,” Dewey said. “They were gusting to about 15 miles per hour, and our threshold was 25 miles per hour.”

Dewey monitored temperature, even though it was not an official part of the job. Historically, highs on July 4 have been from 71 to 110 degrees, Dewey said. This year was on the cooler end, with a high of 74.

Dewey advised the producer on Nebraskans’ tolerance for weather extremes. “I told him they sit at football games in the rain, and when it’s 10 below zero. He said, ‘I’m trying to be serious, Ken.’ I assured him I was.“