When Environment Canada Senior Climatologist David Phillips retired this past September, he wasn\u2019t quite ready to call it a career<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phillips, a beloved Canadian weather personality and self-proclaimed \u201ccollector of weather stories,\u201d said over his 58-year career, sharing his knowledge has been a \u201clabour of love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he finally submitted the paperwork 22 years after he was first eligible to retire, Phillips said he didn\u2019t want to go \u201ccold turkey.\u201d Environment Canada offered him the title of \u201cemeritus,\u201d allowing him to keep his company phone and laptop and do work for the government agency for free<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have a lot of hobbies, a lot of other interests,\u201d he said with a laugh<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phillips officially retired in September, the day after his 80th birthday. He said that morning felt exactly like the day before. He continues to get up early every day to check the weather models and regularly takes calls from journalists across the country looking for a colourful quote for their weather stories<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether it is a journalism student\u2026 or whether it\u2019s the national news. I don\u2019t cherry pick. I just say, \u2018Well who\u2019s the next on the list,\u201d Phillips told CP24.com in an interview earlier this week<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSince I retired, I think I\u2019ve had over 140 interviews.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He initially took a job with the national weather agency in 1966, a position he thought would only be temporary<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had gone to school to become a teacher and only held one other job previously: a room service waiter at the Banff Springs Hotel while he was in university<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBefore I joined the service, I had a job as a teacher for 2 months\u2026 a school in Windsor. A teacher had passed away and so they asked me to fill in. I thought, \u2018Oh well, good. This is something I\u2019ve always wanted to do.\u2019 And I wasn\u2019t very good at it because I couldn\u2019t discipline.\u201d Phillips said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought people should have the same energy and passion and enthusiasm that I had for it, and when they didn\u2019t, I couldn\u2019t understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When an opportunity opened up at the weather service, he assumed it would be a short-term gig<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought, (this is my) chance to come to Toronto to see the big city,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll just take a year off and do some research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as his passion for weather grew, he soon abandoned his plan to become a teacher and decided to continue on with his work at Environment Canada<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he started, he did research on the Great Lakes, looking at lake levels and winds as well as lake effect storms<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI really liked my work, and I wrote articles presented in scientific journals, at science conferences. Then I found that there was this fascination that Canadians had for weather history and weather stories and weather events,\u201d Phillips said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When speaking about his scientific papers at conferences, Phillips said people had an \u201cinsatiable appetite\u201d for information about weather events past, present, and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI began to see the importance of weather to individual lives,\u201d Phillips said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey needed to know before they left home, what the weather was going to be, and how we prepare for it, and then people whose lives and livelihood depend upon it, like farmers or fishermen\u2026 It doesn\u2019t matter whether you\u2019re a chief executive officer or a mailroom clerk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, Phillips carved out a role for himself at Environment Canada as a climatologist<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI always created the job for myself and was able to explain it to management that this is necessary, this is important,\u201d he said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is as a science organization, this is what we need to do. And so I really just cultivated that want or that need for Canadians to have better information. It really grew from that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phillips made it his mission to make weather information accessible to the average person<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI tried to demystify the science aspect of it,\u201d he said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you talk about the subject like you\u2019re going to need a PhD from MIT to talk about it, well I mean they just tune you out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said he often connected with Canadians by using a more \u201cgee wow whiz\u201d style of communication<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust something weird about (the weather), something wacky,\u201d he said. \u201cIt kind of softens them up, and then they\u2019re willing to hear what you have to say that\u2019s maybe important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said while he didn\u2019t pursue a traditional teaching career, in many ways he still feels like a teacher<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy classroom is Canada,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cI\u2019ve never regretted my choice of career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he doesn\u2019t plan to stop teaching Canadians about the weather any time soon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m really enjoying retirement because I\u2019m doing what I love,\u201d he said<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Environment Canada Senior Climatologist David Phillips retired this past September, he wasn\u2019t quite ready to call it a career Phillips, a beloved Canadian weather personality and self-proclaimed \u201ccollector of weather stories,\u201d said over his 58-year career, sharing his knowledge has been a \u201clabour of love.\u201d When he finally submitted the paperwork 22 years after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":32670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"jnews_post_split":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n