Dick Goddard's Legacies Light Up Northeast Ohio

There’s a 100 percent chance for an entirely different weather disturbance in Cleveland this month. After more than 50 years predicting Northeast Ohio’s wild weather, Fox 8 meteorologist Dick Goddard hangs up his windbreaker. We look at three of the retiring weather forecaster’s greatest legacies.

Animal activism: It seems like everyone knows someone who adopted a pet featured as one of Goddard’s Dogs on Friday nights on Fox 8. Plain Dealer TV critic Mark Dawidziak thinks part of Goddard’s longtime focus on animal rights, including the recent passage of a state law further protecting pets, comes from his fondness for Mark Twain, who wrote that animals and humans are on equal footing. “I think he sees great nobility in the so-called lower animals because he doesn’t view them as lower,” Dawidziak says of Goddard.

WoollyBear Festival: Like Northeast Ohio’s own version of Groundhog Day, the annual fest was cooked up by Goddard 44 years ago when he wanted to honor the caterpillar famous in folklore for predicting upcoming winters. The early fall one-day event, which draws as many as 100,000 people, now features a parade, costume contests and more. “It’s like this wonderful slice of Americana,” Dawidziak says. “You come together and unite under the banner of a woollybear. It’s a nice thing from a nice man.”

Weather forecasting: We all joke about Cleveland’s fickle weather. But Goddard’s lasting impression on the city, where knowing if you’ll be able to get your car out of the garage on winter mornings matters, has blazed a path for meteorologists from every station. “He’s doing a job crucial to people’s lifestyle,” Dawidziak says. “There’s no getting around it. I think [current meteorologists] would all stop and tip their teleprompters to him.”