MPR meteorologist Paul Huttner reflects on his most memorable stories

Paul Huttner, MPR’s chief meteorologist since 2007, has sunny plans after his April 30 retirement, including traveling to warmer destinations, playing the blues and spending more time on the golf course.

As he looks back on four decades of forecasting, which have included stints at WCCO-TV, Chicago’s WGN-TV and KGUN-TV in Tucson, Ariz., it’s moments of threatening skies that stick out the most.

Huttner, 64, who created the Updraft weather blog and hosts “Climate Cast,” spoke about his career last week from his home studio.

Q: When did you first become enamored with weather?

A: My first living memory was the 1965 tornado outbreak. I was living in Deephaven, and I was in the backyard with my older brothers and sister. I can still see the green skies and hail as big as fists, which we picked up and put in the freezer to look at later. When my mom learned that tornadoes were coming, she whipped open the porch door and told us to come back in inside where we got in the basement.

Q: Weren’t you scared?

A: I was fascinated. We were a family of weather geeks. I knew right away I wanted to be in the business.

A: The biggest one was probably the 1991 Halloween mega-storm. I was at WCCO-TV at the time. The station didn’t have a morning show at the time, but I was told to come in early and do cut-ins until the noon show. I had a Honda Accord hatchback with front-wheel drive that was great in the snow, but it took me three tries to get out of my driveway.

When I got to work, I buried the car in a snowdrift and ran in. I was the only on-air person to make it to the station, so I ended up solo anchoring all morning. My news manager told me the next day that I was only person in WCCO history to get a 44 share in viewership.

Q: What other storms stick out?

A: The 2010 tornado outbreak, for sure. I remember telling drivers to pull over under underpasses, which we now know isn’t great advice. Bill Kling [MPR founder] was listening that day and took my advice.

That was also the year snow made the Metrodome collapse. It was just phenomenal. Traffic for the Updraft blog I created went through the roof. Snow is the biggest driver of traffic for that blog.

A: I think it was Ferris Bueller who said, “If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” It’s time. I’ve had a great 40-year run. I couldn’t ask for a better career. I built a weather brand that I feel is in good hands.

Q: How will you spend your time?

A: It’s probably cliche, but I’ll play a little golf. There’s a senior golf tour I’m going to join. I played on the Minnetonka High School golf team when I was younger, and I’ve played on and off ever since. I’m also a guitar player with the WCCO Blues Band and I’ll continue to do gigs with them.

Q: Do you have a go-to song?