WNDU-TV meteorologist Cindi Clawson read “Smelly Socks” for the 45th time Thursday to Kincheloe Elementary School first-graders.
Two readings remain for March Reading Month, anchored on the second by Dr. Seuss’s birthday. In Kosciusko County, Ind., she read three times in Warsaw and a fourth in North Webster in a single day.
When she last visited to read at Justus Gage and Patrick Hamilton earlier in March, she drove through lingering lake-effect snow between Niles and Dowagiac, so she’s enjoying an ideal day for driving to what she promotes as “Cindi’s Read Across Michiana Marathon” on her Facebook page.
As for the 80s temperatures that arrived with spring, don’t freak out.
“It’s crazy,” she said, “but doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to continue into summer and be extraordinarily hot.
“It’s a combination of things. Ocean circulations and weather patterns, which haven’t been shifting like they normally would.”
Clawson, who usually forecasts weekend weather on the NBC affiliate Channel 16, grew up in St. Louis and has been a meteorologist since 1999 and fulltime at WNDU since 2003.
“I’ve always had an interest in earth science, geology and astronomy, but I couldn’t see myself jumping in volcanoes and taking soil samples,” she said. “I actually did my undergrad in elementary education (at Southwest Missouri State), but the market in St. Louis was saturated. It was a terrible time to be looking for a job, so I went to graduate school for a master’s in atmospheric science (from the University of Missouri in Columbia). I’ve also always been in performing, like show choir in high school, so I combined the two into meteorology for television — performance and science.”
Clawson’s stage flair emerges with “Smelly Socks” by Robert Munsch with the reveal that she’s wearing red, green and yellow striped socks like the character.
The mother of a 2-year-old son, Clawson started with clown socks and now owns four pairs of the Life Savers-colored leggings.