Veteran meteorologist succumbs to illness

His was a familiar face, not just to his co-workers at the National Meteorological Service, but to virtually the entire nation as the presenter of the nightly weather report on television. Tonight, Justin Hulse is dead.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

At this time is has not been determined what caused the death of well-known meteorologist, fifty-two year old Justin Hulse. According to Chief Meteorologist, Carlos Fuller, Hulse started feeling ill from Friday and quickly his health deteriorated.

Carlos Fuller

“We know that Justin got ill Friday night, Saturday morning. And he went home, went to see a physician, got some medication. However, Saturday night, early Sunday morning he started feeling worse, he was rushed to the B.D.F. airport camp hospital, where he died around six in the morning. An autopsy is being conducted today to determined the exact cause of death.”

Hulse started working as a weatherman 1969, and up to the time of his death remained committed to the profession.

Carlos Fuller

“In 1973, ’74, he went off to become a weather forecaster in the UK. So when I joined the service in 1974, Justin had just come back from doing his forecaster training, and so I studied under Justin. And he was such a serious fellow that when I asked him if I could help him with his chart, he said, “No Carlos, don’t touch my chart.” And that’s how he was with his job; he took it extremely seriously. In addition, in the 1970s the Met service was one of the first institutions in the country to get a computer, and Justin went to it like a fish to water. He really got involved in it and was really at the forefront in computer technology in the country. In fact, so much so that he has done training for many of the Met services in the Caribbean in the use of information technology in meteorology. So he is going to be a big loss, not only to Belize, but to the entire region where meteorology is concerned.”

Because the staff at the meteorological service is considered a closely-knit family, the loss of one of their own, has hit them hard.

Carlos Fuller

“Everyone is going about work with a very heavy heart. We had a meeting around eight o’clock and you could see everybody was in a very depressed mood. Yet, since yesterday they have rallied around. As soon as they found out about it, they rushed up here, what can we do, how can we get the office to continue working. So even though they are rather sad, working with a heavy heart, they are still working, providing the service. It is gonna take us quite some time to get over this. However, the staff has pledged that they will do whatever they can to fill in the void where it is necessary.”

At the time of his death, Justin Hulse was Acting Chief Meteorologist.

Funeral services are scheduled for Tuesday in Ladyville.