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Whom do you trust for news on the weather?

They've always been there, it seems, telling us whether we can count on sunshine for that Saturday picnic or a breeze for our early-morning run. But only in the past month have the five chief meteorologists for Tampa Bay's TV stations become such fixtures in our daily lives.

"Life and death decisions are made based on what we say," says Dick Fletcher, chief meteorologist for Tampa Bay's 10.

We count on them so much, and yet we know little about them.

Here's what they don't talk about when they're standing in front of their maps: their education and training, what they base their predictions on, and their own plans for hurricane preparation.

Dick Fletcher

Age: Turns 62 next week.

Experience: Fletcher has had the American Meteorological Society's Seal of Approval since 1978, a must-have among broadcast meteorologists. The Omaha native started doing the weather 32 years ago and joined Tampa Bay's 10 in 1980. He has covered tornadoes in Colorado and Nebraska and hurricanes in Texas and Florida. He said he still meets people who thank him for his work here during Hurricane Elena in 1985; they say they didn't evacuate until he insisted it was necessary. Fletcher did television news for 10 years before he moved to weather.

Forecasting tools: His station has the 10 Predictor, basically Pennsylvania State University's MM5 computer model for predicting rain and wind. Channel 10 also uses software and hardware that helps create a hurricane graphic for viewers. Fletcher doesn't like to deviate from the National Hurricane Center's projected tracks. "I run this (Predictor) model, but if it doesn't agree with the Hurricane Center, I'm not using it."

Bragging rights: Tampa Bay's 10 Web site boasts that Fletcher flew on reconnaissance missions into three hurricanes. The AMS in 1987 gave him the award for outstanding service in broadcasting, and in 2003 he received a distinguished service award for his efforts in hurricane preparedness.

Schooling: Fletcher has a bachelor of science degree from the University of Nebraska, a certificate of meteorology from Mississippi State University, and he has taken courses at the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science.

Stress level: "I don't have stress. The greater the pressure on me, the more I perform," he insisted. "I haven't had a day off in 10 days," Fletcher said Thursday. "And I don't know when I will."

Hurricane preparation: After having to evacuate during Elena, Fletcher and his wife decided to buy a house that was not in an evacuation zone. He doesn't board up and has a come-what-may attitude about trying to fend off a hurricane's damage. "I think the house will withstand a Category 1 or 2, and if it's a Cat 4 or 5, I'll just go to the insurance company."

Paul Dellegatto

Age: 44

Experience: He started out at a small private weather company in Ithaca, N.Y., earning $4 an hour and reporting weather for ski resorts and radio stations. His first television job was in Portland, Maine, in 1984. From 1986 to 1989 he was the chief meteorologist at a station in Winston-Salem, N.C. Dellegatto moved to Fox 13 in January 1990.

Big Leep: Dellegatto took over the top weather spot at Channel 13 when legendary meteorologist Roy Leep retired in 1997 after 40 years with the station. "Everyone knows Roy Leep," Dellegatto said. "He's a pioneer in this field, so it's been a challenge."

His station's pride: Channel 13 boasts of having the most powerful privately owned weather radar in the state. The tower looms over the station's studios on Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa. The station also gets its own satellite pictures, rather than just relying on pictures from a vendor. "So we see them faster than anyone else would see them."

Schooling: Dellegatto took meteorology classes at Lyndon State College, but his degree is in geography and marine affairs from the University of Rhode Island. He also minored in meteorology and speech communications. He has the AMS Seal of Approval.

Early aspirations: "I've wanted to be a meteorologist since I was a little kid," said the native of Natick, Mass. "We would have big snowstorms, and I'd stay up all night watching it. I'd stick a ruler out in the snow and check later to see how much it had snowed." As a boy, he also mailed letters and hand-drawn weather maps to the local weather guy. "I drove my parents crazy."

The pressure: "We're in our weather Super Bowl, but we've had three of them," he said. "I've noticed in the past week there's a lot of stress. I worry about people's lives. I worry about giving the correct information, because this is a life-altering situation, a life-threatening situation."

Forecasting tactic: Dellegatto considers the National Hurricane Center folks the experts. "That said, we feel here that we know enough to add our own opinions and thoughts. I read the NHC discussion, we look at the models, we look at the radar, we look at everything. You just try to put it all together and make a forecast. There were times during Charley when we thought the track would be a little different from what the hurricane center said."

Hurricane preparation: Dellegatto, married with two children, lives in a Level C evacuation zone in Hillsborough. He hasn't boarded up so far this season because he lives in a new house with windows built to withstand 100 mph winds. "I may live to regret that at some point. I'll evacuate to the station, but my family will go far away somewhere."

Alan Winfield

Age: 43

Experience: Winfield has been a meteorologist since 1982 and has had the AMS Seal of Approval since 1985. He started out at an NBC affiliate in Tulsa, Okla., then he spent eight years at WTVR-TV in Richmond, Va., before moving to a CBS station in Seattle. In 1997, he moved here to help launch Bay News 9, the 24-hour news channel that has him giving constant live forecasts.

Unique burden: Doing so many forecasts in a day gives Winfield a rush of adrenaline. "There is a unique pressure because when new information comes in, you have to scramble to put it together. You don't have two hours; you have four minutes."

Schooling: He has a bachelor's degree in meteorology from Penn State and a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma, universities known for their strong meteorology programs.

Snowy start: Winfield says he had little interest in school when he was a young boy growing up in New Jersey, and he loved it when a snowstorm canceled classes. "So I would just watch those snowstorms, and I got hooked on it," he said. "After that any kind of weather fascinated me. A meteorologist is all I ever wanted to be."

Forecasting tools: Bay News 9 has VIPIR and Pinpoint Doppler 9000. The Doppler radar sends energy into the atmosphere, and if there's a thunderstorm or other system, the energy bounces back - telling forecasters what's out there. While the radar is detecting energy from the rain and wind, it also detects the movement and wind directions. "It was so helpful with Charley," Winfield said, "because it showed these 80 to 100 mph winds going up through Polk County, and we were able to track that all night for viewers."

Weather approach: Winfield describes his style as no hype. "Viewers tell me they like that I'm straight, to the point, with a calming delivery."

Forecasting tactic: "The hurricane center does a fantastic job, but they are very, very conservative. They may wait three or six hours after getting new information before telling that to the public. If we see that information, we can jump on it and tell viewers what we're seeing."

Hurricane preparation: Winfield, his wife and son do not live in an evacuation zone, but he spent Friday shopping at Lowe's for plywood and boarding up his house in Pinellas County.

Steve Jerve

Age: 44

Experience: Jerve has the AMS Seal of Approval and has been doing the weather full time for 20 years. His first job was at KAAL-TV in Austin, Minn., where the station was so small he found himself juggling reporter and weekend news anchor duties and filling in as a weather anchor. He moved to Jackson, Miss., to become the main weather anchor, then to WFTV in Orlando as the 5 p.m. weather anchor. In Orlando, his job was to go to the National Hurricane Center in Miami when hurricanes threatened Florida. He was there for Hurricane Andrew in 1992. While working as chief meteorologist at KDNL in St. Louis a few years later, he flew in a helicopter for eight days to report on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers merging into a massive flood. He won an Emmy for weathercasting in the mid American region in 1996. Jerve joined Channel 8 in 1998.

Schooling: Jerve has a bachelor's degree in speech from the University of Minnesota, where he was born and raised. He took one meteorology class during his undergraduate years and has since earned 40 semester credits in meteorology from Jackson State and Mississippi State universities.

Forecasting tools: The station uses Doppler radar and VIPIR. An acronym for Volumetric Imaging and Processing of Integrated Radar, the VIPIR is essentially a software package sold to TV stations and translates weather information into 3-D images through mathematical analysis and scanning of radar images. It shows the storm winds by taking in data from multiple Doppler radars. Then it creates a composite image that shows the 3-D volume and rotation of the storm, plus the strength of wind shear.

Mr. Popular: According to Nielsen Media Research, WFLA had the most viewers during Hurricane Charley's afternoon arrival on the southwest coast, averaging 25 percent of local viewers. Jerve said he's very aware that hurricanes can "make or break a television station for years to come. I am very aware of the need to be prepared, of needing to be there through the storm, of staying calm and confident for viewers."

Hurricane preparation: Jerve lives in an evacuation zone, and he was without power for three days after Frances. "I'll board up if I have a chance," he said Friday. "The problem is having a chance. I've been spending a lot of time at work."

Delivery style: Always dressed in a sharp suit, Jerve's delivery is authoritative and smooth. "I would describe my style as confident but relaxed. I just try to talk so that people understand, because I started out not knowing much about weather and having to wade my way through it."

Denis Phillips

Age: 42

Experience: He has the AMS Seal of Approval. His first on-air job was as the chief meteorologist in Salisbury, Md., where he covered Hurricane Gloria. Three years later he went to Gainesville, then to Providence, R.I., before he got a job as a weekend weatherman at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles. He was there for the earthquake of 1993. Ten years ago, Phillips came to Tampa. He spent the first years here as the morning and noon meteorologist, then was promoted to chief meteorologist.

Santa spotting: He was 6 years old in his hometown of Seattle, watching television on Christmas Eve, when he saw Santa on the local weatherman's radar. "I thought, that's so cool. I want to be a weatherman. I was the kid who got up and gave the weather to people in junior high. I'd draw a map with the fronts and everything."

Delivery: Phillips is the one who wears suspenders, and he has an animated delivery that illustrates just how much he enjoys covering powerful weather systems like hurricanes. "This is an area where I get to use my training, my experience. It's a passion I have. In delivering hurricane information, people are looking for information but also a comfort level. They don't want hype."

Schooling: Denis got a meteorology and telecommunications degree from Penn State in 1985, specializing in tropical meteorology.

Forecasting tools: Like Tampa Bay's 10, Phillips uses software and hardware to create weather graphics, and Doppler radar. "It's all the same, really. It's a way of presenting all this different information for viewers."

Tactic: "I try to just tell people what I see. If I see a trend developing that's a change, I have no problem telling viewers about it, even if the hurricane center isn't saying that yet. They have to err on the side of caution and be conservative because they're a government agency. But my forte is tropical meteorology, so I am confident in spotting these trends and talking about what I think might happen."

Hurricane preparation: He lives in an evacuation zone in Tarpon Springs and has made a two-week reservation for his family at a hotel in New Tampa. He has not yet boarded up his house, "but I may end up doing it this weekend. My neighbors tend to wait and see if I board up, and then they follow."

- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com