The first word that comes to mind is, Who?

Walter Plowman was the TV Meteorologist in the Loss of Certainty Trilogy (Jackson, The Gamble and River Rising). Working at a small TV station in the town of Jackson, Iowa (based off Dubuque) he was considered a legend by some standards. Everyone believed in what he said regardless if he was right or wrong. In the trilogy, he used Mud Daubers to predict what the crest of the Mississippi River would be the following spring (was the first scene in the first book).

Notably, his character was in the background for the first two books of the series as the city went through the tumultuous task of trying to save the Packing Plant and calm racism across the city. By the third book however, he was becoming the go to man for many including the Public Works Director Chuck Fellows. Predicting storm after storm using the computer which he nicknamed Hazel, he continued to tell people to the behest of his wife El (the mayor of Jackson) about the upcoming flood and the consequences of the flood wall and levee failing and flooding the flood plain. He always looked to help as best he could, from giving the city plenty of warning to helping out taking measurements of the river on the railroad bridge.

T.P Jones (the author of the trilogy) based some of Walter off of Tim Heller (formerly of KDUB in Dubuque and KGAN in Cedar Rapids (now at KTRK in Houston)(Tim was working at KDUB at the time Jones was doing his research for the books in the late 1980s of which the series is based) although Tim was in his 20s at the time and was looking for an older more experienced man who knew how to predict the weather by other means that weather charts and DIFAX maps.

Comparisons to Walter in Iowa include Denny Frary (KCRG), Mike Lozano (WHO and KCCI) and the late Conrad Johnson (KGAN). Regardless of the comparisons, Walter was the man that people in that area could trust. With regards to the Trilogy and what happens to Walter, his wife El, Chuck and the rest of the characters, you’ll have to read the books to find out. The books are very fast paced and tend to bounce around and note the trilogy has swear words.