Weather-tech jobs remain in Madison even after company is sold

With a background in meteorology at UW-Madison and experience as a weatherman on WKOW Channel 27, Terry Kelly was ideally positioned to serve weather forecasts and graphics to the American TV industry. Photo circa 1977. Courtesy of Terry Kelly His demo tape as a TV weatherman was adjudged "pretty awful," yet it got University of Wisconsin-Madison grad Terry Kelly started "doing the weather" on WKOW Channel 27 in Madison in 1974. To improve on the paper drawings he was using to show storms and fronts, Kelly started Weather Central and built it into America's premier computer weather graphics and weather modeling business. By 2011, the company's 170 employees were providing forecasts, graphics and data to the majority of American TV stations. Although Kelly sold Weather Central to The Weather Company, owner of The Weather Channel, in 2012, 85 jobs remain in Madison. Kelly's exposure to weather technology began while he was working on a master's degree in meteorology at UW-Madison, where the invention of the imaging hardware and graphics displays at the heart of the first weather satellites set the groundwork for a three-way marriage between meteorology, computers and space imaging technology. Kelly is now president of Venture Management LLC, which has holdings in more than 20 companies. Photo: Bryce Richter That technology stirred big thoughts in the people around meteorology Professor Verner Suomi , who's often called "the father of the weather satellite." "As sensors became more capable in atmospheric science," Kelly says, "we were thinking, 'How could we make a more precise and accurate forecast that would be useful for specialized needs in industries like canners and freezers, ski areas, aviation and others?