And Now, the Weather…and Would You Like Cream with That?
By Dee Dees
Still boyish looking in his early fifties, Ed Phillips has the distinction of being the longest-serving media meteorologist in the Valley, having been on radio and TV continuously for over thirty years.
A book he read in fifth grade sparked his interest in weather, and when a teacher encouraged that interest, he knew what his life’s work would be. He began his meteorology career in 1977 with KOY radio after moving to Phoenix after graduating from Saint Louis University. Since that time, he has worked for KTAR radio, Channel 12, and Channel 15.
Phillips takes interest in the news as well as the weather, and enjoys talking politics and participating in them as well. He served two terms in the Arizona State Senate from 1991 to 1995, and said that his grandfather, a news junkie and political devotee, inspired his political tendencies. “I wish he could have been around to see me serve in the Senate,” Phillips says.
In 1980, when Phillips was with KOY, he began publishing his familiar Arizona Almanac, which is now published biannually and is filled with fun, weather-related facts and data. Phillips also has pilot licenses for both single-engine fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters; and he and Anne have two sons: Alex, a freshman at ASU Business School, and Stephen, a polite young man of 11.
Phillips undoubtedly has little time for sleep. To make sure that there’s always coffee at hand, he’s started his own unique café, Weather & Coffee, enjoyed by weather buffs and coffee aficionados. Phillips and his wife had been considering the idea of opening a business for some time. After giving some thought to what type of business they would enjoy running, a coffee shop seemed a good fit. “Once I got too gray for TV, the time seemed right to start the business,” Phillips says. Anne, a self-proclaimed recovering attorney, changed careers to become a barista.
Creating a weather-themed coffeehouse was natural for Phillips, and Weather & Coffee is an extension of his personality as well as a great place to sit, relax, and enjoy the atmospheric conditions. The shop embraces the weather-outlook theme. Sunny yellow walls brighten the building’s narrow interior; and in corners and on part of the side wall, patches of blue sky and white clouds are interfused with lightening bolts. On the back wall, there’s a display of old weather equipment, including the first Mark II Weather Station that Phillips acquired as a youth in the mid-1960s.
“I ordered it from the Lionel Train Company,” he said. “They didn’t make them for very long, so this is probably a collector’s item.”
Also on display are an old thermograph from the 1940s, a barograph, and a hygrothermograph; respectively, instruments that record measured temperature, humidity, and both conditions.
Ed Phillips takes pride and joy in whatever he does, and whatever he does, he does well; be it weather, politics, flying, or coffee making, he’s a fun and interesting man to be around.
Check weatherandcoffee.com for the latest caffeine forecast.