- November 5, 2024
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As a young kid growing up in Boston, Bob Pickering was always mesmerized by the weather.
Whenever he felt the urge to imitate his favorite meteorologists, Pickering would dig a crayon out of his pocket and find the nearest wall.
With a sense of pride and calmness, the toddler gave that day’s weather report, pointing to spots on the wall like TV weathermen point to maps on screen.
“My mom would catch me, of course,” Pickering said. “She wasn’t all too happy about that.”
Pickering, now 50 years old and a longtime Flagler County resident, is a man of many interests.
He loves trains — Pickering said one of the best places to find him is on the side of a railroad track taking snapshots of passing locomotives.
He also used to work at Marineland of Florida, where he served as a dolphin trainer, diver and announcer.
His most recent job, however, brought him right back to his first love — weather.
For the last 23 years, Pickering has served as the emergency management technician at the Flagler County Emergency Operations Center, where he is responsible for monitoring weather conditions and emergency planning.
Pickering, known as “B.P.” by his peers and fans, also announces the Flagler County Weather Updates online — his most notable updates coming prior to the arrival of Hurricane Irma.
“It’s not the only job I do here, but I love what I do,” he said. “Weather is probably about 30% of my job. … But when I get to work with it, I’m really happy to do so.”
Pickering, who was called “Weatherman Bob” by his classmates at Flagler Palm Coast High School, is not a meteorologist. He has no formal training on the subject.
Most of what he’s learned has been through self-teaching or attending the occasional class.
But his passion for the subject is evident.
In his small, crowded office in the EOC, a thick textbook — “Florida’s Hurricane History” by Jay Barnes — sits on his overflowing desk. Countless plaques, letters of recommendation and awards decorate the beige walls of the office. In the middle of it all, the man they call "B.P." sits with his eyes glued to his computer screen, scanning the projected path of the next storm in the Atlantic — Hurricane Maria.
“You’ve gotta really use your brain on this job,” Pickering said. “Especially in dealing with an active event because it’ll throw all these curveballs at you, all these problems that you’ll have to solve.”
But even with the intensity of his work, Pickering still finds time to enjoy himself.
“Even though there’s a few bits of my body that don’t work as well as I would like for them to work, I can hit the dance floor and keep up with the 20-year-olds,” he said. “I work hard and play hard.”
