Is Tom Bevacqua Headed Back to Omaha?

Would Tom Bevacqua consider a return to television forecasting in Omaha?

"If the circumstances were right," the former KMTV chief meteorologist said earlier this week from his home near Springfield, Mass. "I am going to be sending out some tapes to other stations pretty soon.

"My wife loves Omaha and I have a stepson who works in Omaha as a conductor for Union Pacific," he added.

Bevacqua will be available Sept. 1. He is leaving WGGB in Springfield, Mass., where he has been the chief meteorlogist for the past 11 years. It's the job he left Omaha for in September of 1993.

While at KMTV, Bevacqua was the first Omaha TV meteorologist to utilize Doppler radar. Before it was installed, Bevacqua said he visited other stations around the country to learn how it worked.

"I spent several days in Oklahoma City with KWTV chief meteorologist Gary England, whom you might remember as the weather announcer in the movie 'Twister,'" he said. "At KMTV, we used to issue a "Doppler Alert" when we thought tornadic activity was possible. I can say with all honesty, we were always on the air first when it came to severe weather."

Bevacqua said it wasn't out of the question for him to be at the studio for 24 hours during periods of bad weather. Oftentimes, he said he would buy pizza for the crew and they would "settle in."

Could Bevacqua's return trigger a ratings increase if he were to return to his former station? At the time of his departure, KMTV was a strong second to KETV at 5 and 10 p.m. and current WOWT Chief Meteorologist Jim Flowers was the chief at KETV (until 1992) and Dale Munson was the chief meteorologist at WOWT. Flowers later left for WOWT and was replaced by Bill Randby, while Bevacqua was replaced by Carey Coleman, who came from KMGH in Denver. (Coleman is not related to former "Good Morning America" meteorologist John Coleman.)