Change in the weather: Lezak is back New meteorologist at Channel 41 gets going again after six-month hiatus

Ever wonder what you would do if you had six months' paid leave between jobs? Gary Lezak went tornado chasing. Lezak, who signs on today as new chief meteorologist at KSHB, Channel 41, and his brother Scott took a 15-hour road trip to the Oklahoma border over Memorial Day weekend in search of a twister. They studied the weather maps and headed toward southwestern Kansas. As Lezak tells it, they arrived just as a "classically, perfectly shaped funnel, all the way to the ground," took form a few miles south of Sitka. The two brothers pointed their camcorders out the windows of their car while Gary sped away at 70-plus miles per hour. "I've never been so scared and yet so excited at the same time," Lezak said. "All the way home I called everyone I knew, telling them I'd seen the tornado." The result was a riveting video - parts of which will air Friday - and a $ 240 cell-phone bill. The tornado chase also was great research for Lezak as he prepares to take the helm of a TV weather operation for the first time. With Laurie Roberts, he will serve as co-anchor of KSHB's 5 p.m. report, "Kansas City Live," while on the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts he will assume the more traditional weathercaster's role. The 5 p.m. show will be the closest thing to the morning news gig at WDAF, Channel 4, that made Lezak and Windy, his 9-year-old shepherd-collie mix, local stars. Lezak's contract stipulated that he could not appear on a competing station for six months after leaving WDAF Dec. 31. But it didn't say anything about Windy. KSHB's promotions staff shamelessly exploited the loophole with a series of clever 30-second spots featuring Windy and "consultants" supposedly readying her to do weathercasts in her master's absence. WDAF's attorneys weren't amused and at one point sent Lezak a cease-and-desist letter. But the ads played on. "Channel 41 was amazing," Lezak said in a recent interview conducted on KSHB's news set. "In my entire career I've never seen a promotional department follow through like they've followed through." As for his companion's future: "Windy will be there on the first day. I plan on Windy being involved in the show in some way live at least once a week. And then from our school visits, we'll show video of the kids with Windy." Channel 41 also will begin airing new promotional spots today featuring Lezak, minus his dog, talking about the weather. In one very funny spot Lezak, who grew up in sunny southern California, recalls the time he begged his father to drive him up to Big Bear Lake to watch a thunderstorm. If the new promotional campaign has an unspoken message, it's "less Windy, more weather." "I've always enjoyed being part of other segments, though for me the most important aspect is always going to be doing the weather," Lezak said. "Our equipment at 41 is top-of-the-line for any television station in the country. It's exciting for me to be involved in this." If it's hard to imagine anyone being excited by a Doppler radar system, bear in mind that Lezak left California to attend college in Oklahoma, the nation's crucible of severe weather. His first job out of school in 1985 was at the PBS station in Oklahoma City. "They still had magnetic numbers that you had to put up on the board," Lezak said. "It took me two months before I even smiled on camera." He then spent 6 1/2 years at the city's CBS affiliate as the morning and noon weatherman before coming to WDAF in 1992. "It's a big advantage to work in Oklahoma City," Lezak said. "It's a very competitive market. " WDAF's chief meteorologist Mike Thompson also cut his teeth covering storms in Oklahoma. The experience will come in handy when Lezak is called into the studio to interrupt KSHB programs for severe weather updates. He said he feels "blessed" that Channel 41 didn't have to do that kind of wall-to-wall coverage while he was sitting on the sidelines. "When I left Dec. 31, there was a big snowstorm coming toward Kansas City - it missed us," Lezak said. "From that point on we had the most benign severe weather season we have ever had. There wasn't one bad weather event. I was always concerned, you know, 'Am I going to miss the big snowstorm? ' 'Is the big Oklahoma City thing going to happen here while I'm off? ' Nothing happened. It's been a very boring season for the meteorologists." (It should be noted that Lezak gave this interview before this weekend's monsoons descended on the Kansas City area.) A long-range forecast Lezak studied last week suggested that "on my debut day, if my data is correct, it's going to be one of our bigger weather days." That, he added, would be just fine by him. - To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com