Remembering director David Lynch for his work in film and his weather reports

Director David Lynch has passed away. While he's famous for his mind-bending films, AccuWeather also remembers him for his down-to-earth weather reports.

Director David Lynch passed away on Jan. 17 at the age of 78. While most people know him from his legacy of films and television shows, many may not be aware of his side project -- hundreds of daily Los Angeles weather report videos.

For a man known for his mind-bending, visionary film work, Lynch's weather reports from his understated basement office were unusually simple, short, and concise, offering a window into the man behind his legendary movies.

As steam rose from his coffee, the down-to-earth, grandfatherly gentleman carefully annunciated the date, day of the week, and the current temperature expressed in Fahrenheit and Celsius as he squinted out the window to gauge the conditions.

In a city that sees clear skies most of the year, he never ceased to be amazed and delighted by the "beautiful blue skies and golden sunshine" day after day, a nod to the allure of California weather. Sometimes, he included a short forecast, and the reports always ended the same way: "Have a great day, everyone."

Nerdist noted that the weather reports began as phone calls to L.A. radio station INDIE 103.1 in 2005. Shortly thereafter, he uploaded the daily video reports to his avante-garde website, created before the days of social media. YouTube had just launched, and it would be a good 10 years until podcasts gained popularity.

In 2010, Lynch stopped the weather reports, presumably as he became too busy with his work, which included writing books and making music. During the COVID lockdown, he started his reports up again in May 2000, perhaps to assure us all that the world was still turning as usual and that we should take solace in the simple things.

He didn't mention COVID or explain why he decided to begin reporting the weather again; he just jumped back into the same format as always, even though weather apps and websites made the idea of a one-man weather forecast obsolete. Almost 1,000 of those COVID-era weather reports are available on his YouTube channel.

On Dec. 16, 2022, Lynch posted his last daily weather report, but he didn't announce that fact. He simply did the report in the same fashion as he always had. After that day, the reports disappeared into the ether as mysteriously as they had suddenly begun 940 episodes earlier.

Despite Lynch's attempt and simplicity with his daily weather reports, one YouTuber found a way to make it "Lynchian" by overlaying a year's worth of weather reports into one short film. Another YouTube commenter quipped, "When his childhood friend Toby Keeler asked what 'Weather Report' was about, Lynch responded: 'It’s about 37 seconds.'"

It's Jan. 17, 2024, and if you can believe it, it's Friday again! It's 59 degrees in Los Angeles, about 16 Celsius. Morning fog is giving away to beautiful blue skies with puffy white clouds.

Have a great day, everyone.

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