Dylan Haar forecasts the weather. Photo credit: Kristen Haar
By CHRIS CHRISTOPHER
There’s the expression, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”
Dylan Haar gets paid to talk about–and forecast–the weather.
The former Ocean Township High School ice hockey team’s scoring machine is the morning meteorologist for the television station KVRR Local News in Fargo, North Dakota.
He makes forecasts, puts together the show and performs live on the show. It airs Monday through Friday from 8-10 EST. The website kvrr.com contains forecasts and livestreams of each of his shows. His Facebook page is Dhaarweather.
Haar started at the station last Sept. 26 as a weekend meteorologist and news reporter.
“I made forecasts, put the show together and performed the show Friday nights and made forecasts Saturday,” he said. “During the week, I filmed stories, conducted interviews, edited them together, wrote scripts for them and published articles to the website.”
Haar works in what is often a cold climate.
“Winter is the most difficult season,” he said. “The biggest challenge is forecasting snow amounts and the locations of where the largest amount of snow will fall. I don’t have much experience forecasting the weather, but there is definitely rain and pop up thunderstorms.
“It feels good when my forecast is accurate, especially when nailing important forecasts like winter storms. It’s great to know that your work paid off and delivered the right message when people needed it. When my forecast is not accurate, it’s not the worst feeling, but it does make me feel down a little bit. But ya gotta keep going and deliver more for everyone.”
Haar said it “typically” takes 45 minutes to one hour to prepare his forecast.
“It takes longer if bad weather is going on,” he said. “We use weather models to forecast the weather. I look at the current conditions from the National Weather Service, which uses all of the weather tools to obtain the current information.”
Haar became interested in the weather when he watched Storm Chasers on the Weather Channel.
“Weather interested me as a kid,” he said. “My parents left the Weather Channel on. I watched an episode of the Storm Chasers. Weather stuck in the back of my mind ever since and I decided to follow it in college (he graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in meteorology in May of 2023).”
Haar has enjoyed a diversified career at the station. He marched with colleagues in the 2023 Holiday Lights Parade in December.
“I have covered a lot of different kinds of stories,” he said. “Some are sports related. Some are weather related. There are other events going down in Fargo and the surrounding region.”
He spent last summer applying for jobs.
“KVRR was interested in me so I took the chance and moved out to Fargo,” he said.
Haar hopes to remain in his field.
“I want to become a top meteorologist at a station closer to home,” he said. “What I enjoy the most about being a meteorologist is being able to tell the public what’s going to happen to help it out.”
Haar is a 2019 graduate of the Marine Academy of Science & Technology in Middletown Township.
“Since MAST was a vocational school, I got the chance to play ice hockey for my hometown school,” he said.
Haar played ice hockey quite well, thank you.
All he did was score 91 goals and add 55 assists in four varsity seasons. He earned the Century Club Award for scoring more than 100 career points. He put home two goals and added five assists as a freshman. He scored 21 goals and added 16 assists as a sophomore. There were 30 goals and 19 assists as a junior. There were 38 goals and 15 assists as a senior.
He left Ocean first on its all-time lists in points and goals. He tied for first place in single-season goals with Robbie Feathers. Haar’s brother, Alex, surpassed him in each category.
“My career was awesome,” he said. “It was a lot of fun playing with my teammates and coaches (Dave) Smith, (Mike) Ryan and Devon (Ribsam). Being able to captain the team was an honor and an experience I’ll never forget.”
“Dylan was our captain during his senior year,” Ryan said. “He was chosen because of his leadership qualities both on and off the ice. He was a welcoming presence to our newer players yet commanded respect from our more established players. Aside from his pure hockey skill, he was smart and unselfish with a great hockey sense. His personality was one that made people very comfortable around him. He has a great sense of humor.”
Ryan said he saw growth in Haar on and off the ice.
“Physically … like a tree,” Ryan said. “He was so tiny as a freshman and huge by his senior year, but overall as his size increased and he was no longer able to be physically pushed around by bigger players he really blossomed into a goal scorer. His ability to make plays really opened up as his strength and confidence grew. He was always a respectful, talented and classy player.”
Ryan said he enjoyed coaching Haar.
“He comes from a good family so from the beginning he was polite, respectful and soft spoken,” Ryan said. “As most do in high school, he opened up even more as he gained confidence among his teammates. His personality really came out. I can see the same development as he progresses in his television career. As his confidence on the air increases, his humor and wit is really starting to show
“Dylan likes to have a good time. He’s always laughing and enjoying his family and friends. He’s the kind of person you can just meet and it doesn’t take long to feel like you’re old friends. He’s a good, hardworking and focused person. What you see is what you get. There’s no hidden agenda. He’s as genuine as it gets. I am not at all surprised that he is a success in life in general. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t.”
Haar said he enjoyed playing for Ryan.
“He is a great guy,” Haar said. “He was the assistant (under head coach Smith) when I was there. He would be hard on everyone, but also fun in the locker room when we were doing well. He respected everyone and in turn everyone respected him. Great guy and a great coach.”
Haar, a 6-foot, 184-pounder, played forward for the Cyclones of the American Collegiate Hockey Association in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. He scored three goals and added five assists in 14 regular-season games. He put home 10 goals, including one game-winner, and added 13 assists in 23 regular-season outings in 2021-2022.
“Iowa State was a fun time,” he said. “I was not as dominant as I was at Ocean, but it was still great to play with those guys. I made great friends and had a lot of fun. I chose Iowa State because I wanted a school with a good weather program and the chance to play ACHA hockey. Iowa State had a great meteorology program with great professors who made my studies fun and enjoyable but still challenging.
“ISU also had a (NCAA) Division I and Division II ACHA program at the time with a rink right on campus, making it easily accessible. I decided based on that to go there. Also, the Midwest has more severe weather so I wanted to see that, too.”
Haar has benefitted off the ice from playing his beloved sport.
“Hockey is a sport full of ups and downs just like life and it is not easy,” he said. “It taught me to put in the work to get the results you want. It also taught me to brush off losses because there’s a next game and to never get too attached to a win as there’s more business to take care of in the future.”
“Dylan is a great example of what high school ice hockey is all about,” Ryan said. “Yes, Dylan went on to play in college for Iowa State, but the work ethic, personality traits, confidence and ability to communicate that you develop through high school sports in general helped him where it counts and now he is successful in his life after hockey at doing what he set his sights on doing.”
