"BARELY A HURRICANE"
Sat., October 22, 11:27 AM
This post is relevant now because the local television station is airing a tribute to Dr. Mel this weekend. But I actually began outline it about two months ago, when we were listening to the news and waiting for Hurricane Irene.
“Barely a hurricane,” said Dr. Mel, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they downgrade it to a tropical storm.” 
That’s a recent picture of Dr. Mel and his wife. I couldn't find a good one of him “in action.”
It was downgraded, about half an hour later. He always knows what he’s talking about; when he doesn’t know, he admits it. He pointed out that it is just a number. Though the winds were less than originally predicted, we still had a lot of rain and high tide would be high indeed. As I have already described, Dr. Mel was right. Between the winds and the moon really pulling that tide, it came to visit my basement and kill my car.
I had been saying that this storm is for Dr. Mel. His weather explanations have been a staple on the local television and radio news for twenty-five years. He spent the last fifteen years battling a usually fatal cancer — which is now in remission! — and helping to raise funds for cancer treatment in Connecticut. But he is now too ill to continue on television, suffering a painful condition possibly caused by the drugs used to treat his cancer.
So he formally retired from the television job, but he will continue to work on the radio, from his weather center at home, as long as he can. That is typical of Dr. Mel; he absolutely loves weather. He missed a big storm once when he was away on a cruise, and he wished he had been home. He laughed as he reported this storm destroying his observation deck and, eventually, his living room; he continued to report until the neighbors came and insisted they get out.
Dr. Mel was recently presented a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Connecticut Broadcasters Association, a surprise to him because these were professional broadcasters, “not just a bunch of meteorologists.” In his acceptance speech, he mentioned how excited he had been by Irene. He even started to say, “bring on the next one,” but decided he had just “better keep my mouth shut.”
Mel taught meteorology in college and only began broadcasting to earn money to build a weather center at Western Connecticut State University. I believe that meteorology teaching center was the first of its kind.
Since his diagnosis of multiple myeloma, Mel Goldstein has worked tirelessly to raise funds for the new state-of-the-art cancer treatment center at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Having given up the television work, he is planning to concentrate his “spare time” on teaching and continuing to raise funds, both for the hospital and for meteorology scholarships.
I am looking forward to the program produced by his former colleagues at Channel 8.
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