Frankie MacDonald: Rising to the top of meteorology
MacDonald does an introduction for one of his YouTube videos.
December 13, 2018
Sydney, Nova Scotia resident and self-proclaimed meteorologist, Frankie MacDonald is making a name for himself as a YouTube star and one of the top meteorologists today.
MacDonald, 34, started his YouTube account in June of 2011 and has already amassed more than 183,000 subscribers. As of Dec. 2018, MacDonald has garnered almost 33 million views on his channel.
MacDonald’s claim to fame is his severe weather alerts for cities and states across the world. Though MacDonald has also uploaded a number of comedy skits to his channel, he is most widely known for his role as a weatherman.
New visitors to MacDonald’s channel may not immediately understand his forecasting style. Having been diagnosed with autism as a child, MacDonald typically delivers his weather reports in a way some weather-watchers are not accustomed to. A minority of viewers watching MacDonald’s videos question his antics and occasionally leave negative comments that ridicule his disability, but MacDonald’s faithful supporters are always there to outweigh it with overwhelming support and gratitude.
“Frankie, [you] always find a way to make my day 110 [percent],” said one comment on a recent video. “Keep it up bud and keep me posted with the weather.”
“Thank you so much for all you do [Frankie],” said another comment on one of MacDonald’s videos. “Stay strong, stay warm, stay safe and please keep us updated!”
MacDonald’s most popular video, with around 1.2 million views, is a skit featuring the man himself pretending to eat 50 hot dogs at once. Not far behind is a video of MacDonald reporting on a rainstorm in South Dakota with around 550,000 views.
A standard winter storm forecast given by MacDonald consists of informing the viewer of how much snow is headed their way and reminding them to stay inside and stay safe. MacDonald also reminds viewers to stock up on food (mainly pizza and Chinese food) and to get their phones, tablets and other devices charged up. Here is one of MacDonald’s forecasts warning South Dakota of an approaching winter storm on Dec. 1, 2018:
