MERRIMACK, N.H.—In the eyes of Alan “Al” Kaprielian, there’s no such thing as a bad day when you’ve been broadcasting weather reports for 26 years.
Sure, you’ve seen the hurricanes, the tornadoes, and New England nor’easters, but in the long run, life is good as long as you can wake up every morning with the sun dancing in your heart.
“Each day is a blessing,” says the 49-year-old meteorologist. “I’m not a negative person and try to stay positive. Every cloud has its silver lining and that’s how I approach a foul day. When it rains, I look for the rainbow.”
With all due respect to Boston’s venerable Harvey Leonard, few others have been in the weather circuit longer than Kaprielian, certainly no others throughout southern New Hampshire. He owns that territory and respectfully calls himself the “dean of weathermen.”
With his famous falsetto voice and arms flaying, he strikes an incongruous pose for someone in such a medium. A first-time viewer might consider him an oddball. Those who know him better consider it a trademark.
“The guys in Boston are pretty conservative,” he deduces. “I like to jazz things up a bit. It’s not an act.”
As for any other Armenians in the forecasting business, Kaprielian knows of nobody else. And for that, he feels privileged.
His heritage means everything to him. Once married to an Armenian wife he met at an ASA dance, Kaprielian now lives alone, no children, and shares company with the myriad of weather maps at his disposal. To say he’s married to the profession is putting it bluntly.
“Being Armenian is an incentive for other Armenians to watch me,” he says. “I’ve maintained my identity by keeping my Armenian name on television. The Armenian community supports me in my career. My feeling is that we should all be treated nicely and with respect, whether someone is Armenian or not.”
Put a losh kebab in front of him and he’ll make it quickly disappear. During the Lowell Folk Festival in July, he was a popular fixture at the ARS booth, chatting with the ladies and taking advantage of the offerings. The man’s reputation precedes him.
He can’t step anywhere and not hear the standard question, “Hey, Al! What’s the weather?”
“There’s no such thing as a low profile when you’ve been at this as long as I have,” he reveals. “Whether I’m in a supermarket or a parking lot, they ask me for a weather report. The job never leaves you.”
Hurricanes Gloria and Bob were chip shots compared to that ice storm of December 2008 that gripped the northeast. Kaprielian made his way to the station, only to be saved by a generator. He wasn’t that fortunate on the return trip home. The power he had lost wasn’t restored for nine days.
He’s predicted scorchers and arctic blasts. The coldest he’s seen it is actual 10 below. The hottest? 110 in the shade.
“If you include all the hurricanes and tornadoes across the country, it would be in the hundreds over my career,” he points out. “The weather is serious business and I try to keep it that way.”
Well, almost. There was that time in 1980 during a newscast when he got caught combing his hair on the air. Station producers wound up dropping the story, much to his chagrin.
Some like Gene Steinberg, MyTV’s chief executive officer, describe Kaprielian as an incredibly beloved and worshipped fellow.
“The whole world can change but Al remains the same,” he says.
“Kaprielian gives energetic and eccentric forecasts, but he’s shy off camera,” adds Dianne Sutter, president and CEO of Station WNDS. “When he’s at public events, he’s asked for autographs.”
Kaprielian was a junior in high school during that infamous Blizzard of ’78. By then, he was well onto his career path. In grammar school, he would study the reports, listen to the forecasters, and come to class prepared to give the daily rundown. Quite often, he’d “snow” the other students.
“There’s a coastal front moving this way which could produce a mixed bag. Wwwe’re headed down into the freezer for a while.”
The others would look at him like some foreigner speaking a different dialect. Gradually, he became known as a weather paladin.
Kaprielian is also known to mentor students who are thinking of becoming meteorologists. His finest hour is visiting a school and attending graduations. His community service—whether a cookie contest or a seafood festival—remains unparalleled.
“The hardest thing is predicting snowfalls,” he’s quick to admit. “It’s an inexact science. I’ve received favorable comments about my accuracy from papers like the Boston Globe.”
Kaprielian has no plans to retire, maybe someday crack the Boston market. As to the future, it’s one forecast away. On comes the microphone and out comes a fast-talking fugue voice. It’s time to shine!
“Don’t put away those shovels and mufflers just yet, folks. We’re in for another monster of a storm and back into the freezer we go for awhile. Good day to stay indoors with a good book and a roarin’ fireplace.”
About Al Kaprielian
Alan “Al” Kaprielian is a meteorologist in New Hampshire, best known for 26 years with Channel 50, a broadcast television station in Derry, N.H. One journalist has described a “Kult of Kaprielian” due to his distinctive voice and eccentric mannerisms, which include squeaky, high-pitched exclamations of “hiiigh pressure!” and “gooood eeevening, folks!”
Bearing a distinct New England accent, you’ll find him before a TV audience of two million viewers swinging his arms in circles rapidly and performing jumping jacks on camera.
Kaprielian’s TV run came to an end last December as part of changes at the television station. He now forecasts for Manchester Community Access Television, the online site of the Nashua Telegraph newspaper and radio station WCAP-AM (980) in Lowell, Mass.
When not broadcasting weather information, he tours local schools. During these visits, he informs students of science and weather study. He can also be found at local community events such as the Lowell Folk Festival, Dracut Scholarship Foundation’s Telethon, Derry News Cookie Eating Contest, and judging the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival.
Kaprielian was born in Natick, Mass., graduated from Lyndon State College in Vermont, and has garnered a host of awards including Best Media Personality and Best Weatherperson in New Hampshire.
Tom Vartabedian
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Would like to get in touch with Tom. I am an old high school classmate and just re-read an article he wrote in March of ’90 about his corncob pipe. I’ve been in FL since ’83