MOOSIC — For 34 years, television viewers in the Wyoming Valley and beyond have tuned into WNEP-TV to get their weather forecast from meteorologist Tom Clark.
On Friday, Clark signed off for the final time during the station’s 6 p.m. newscast.
Clark, 64, retired, taking a buyout offered by WNEP’s parent company, Tribune Media Co. In October, weekday anchor Marisa Burke also left the station after taking a buyout. The buyouts were offered to employees with more than 30 years on air.
“It was very generous,” Clark said noting that though he wasn’t leaving at 66 as he had planned, the buyout was “an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
During the final newscast, Mike Stevens, host of WNEP’s “Home and Backyard,” presented a special tribute dedicated to Clark’s memorable moments on air in which he called him “a dear friend.”
“Tom Clark was in the middle of it all,” Stevens said as he talked about the blizzard of 1993 and the flooding in 1996.
The last weather forecast for Clark was “bittersweet” he said, and it came in the midst of another busy weather day. Snow squalls kept Clark and his wife, Noreen, busy inside the WNEP newsroom during the afternoon.
“I am so blessed,” he said. “I’ll miss the people in the newsroom.”
Clark entered the business when he and former business partner Paul Douglas were in college at Penn State. Douglas had a private weather company, Total Weather, which gave local forecasts to four radio stations and one TV station.
“This was the TV station,” Clark said.
Douglas and Clark moved Total Weather to Northeastern Pennsylvania. Douglas became a meteorologist for WNEP and once a spot opened up on the weather team, he called on Clark to fill the void.
Tom said his favorite moments were in Channel 16’s helicopter, especially when it took him to schools in the viewing area.
“I loved talking to students,” he said, noting he inspired some students to be weather enthusiasts and meteorologists as well. “That makes me feel great … to make a positive impact.”
Noreen, a part-time meteorologist for WNEP, said she’s working the next four days and the couple won’t have time to formally celebrate until the new year. She will still continue to work for the station, and Tom may fill in in the future. The Clarks are planning on traveling, especially to see their daughter, Kristin, a meteorologist in Minnesota.
Tom has several hobbies that will keep him busy at the couple’s home in Mountain Top, including landscaping and gardening.
