NBC4 Forecasts Weather from Crescent Road Court

Tonight it was weather a la Greenbelt as NBC Washington's chief meteoroligist, Doug Kammerer, forecast from three adjoining backyards in a Crescent Road court.

Alice Mitchell came up with the idea while watching Kammerer on TV talking about his backyard BBQ forecasts. She broached the topic with her neighbors, Bill and Dianne Wilkerson and Elizabeth Balcer Kubiczek, and to her delight -- they said yes.

The rain put the stopper on the first planned broadcast. But Kammerer stuck around the neighborhood to do the second one, thinking the storm would blow over, though more thunderstorms might hit later that night. He's the weatherman -- he should know, right?

Still some BBQ goers were keeping their eyes on a cluster of serious looking dark clouds overhead, worried there might be more wet weather. Kammerer assured them they had nothing to fear. "Those are the okay black clouds," he said, evoking laughter from the neighborhood crowd.

Turned out the weatherman knew his stuff. Within 20 minutes, he was on air 'neath sunny skies in Mitchell's backyard.

When the camera was on, so was Kammerer -- joking, weather speculating, even chomping down on a ripe red watermelon, as he forecast multiple times throughout the 5 and 6 o'clock news hours.

Kammerer added some folksy touches, like informing TV viewers that Greenbelters kept telling him -- the best thing about living here is this, with each having their own version of the final reason. 

As for Kammerer's weather report, he said he'd try to send a video link our way later tonight. So stay tuned. 

But the report on Kammerer is already in. Mitchell said when he and his team joined the mix, the Greenbelters had a lot of fun, "it was almost like another neighbor."

The love was pretty thick. Kammerer reported on air that several Greenbelters told him he should live here. They even went so far as to pick out his house. Well Doug, the ball's in your court.