Weatherman Jim Cantore visits Vermont alma mater

TV personality and weatherman extraordinaire Jim Cantore was in our region Thursday with a big gift for his alma mater.

Cantore, who is best known for his work at the Weather Channel, is a 1982 graduate of Hartford High School.

Thursday, he was back at the school to help install a new apparatus called Weather STEM. It's a device that monitors real-time weather conditions in a specific location. Cantore donated the technology to the school. Students will incorporate it into their studies.

"I think some kids don't take it that seriously because they are like, 'Oh, this couldn't possibly be realistic. This could never happen in real life compared to,' they are seeing actual forecasts," said Larissa Davis, a ninth-grader.

"You know, later on, as we talked about, getting one-year, three-year, five-year dataset going, you can start to see trends. Is it getting warming here in the Upper Valley? Is it getting cooler? Are the nights getting warmer? Those kinds of things you can look at, those are really helpful for everybody, including us," Cantore said.

Cantore says it's always great to come home to the Upper Valley, especially this time of year when the fall foliage is at its peak.