Maine Campground Makes Light of Hurricane Lee: ‘Not a Real Hurricane Unless Jim Cantore Shows Up’

Hurricane Lee continued churning north in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday with its sights set on making landfall in Maine or a Canadian Province this weekend. Businesses and residents in the path are preparing for a major weather event, although some seem to be taking the warnings with more amusement than alarm.

Owners of a campground site in Ellsworth, just north of Bar Harbor, used its marquee sign to alert people of the hurricane, but they added a twist of humor.

The sign at Forest Ridge Campground reads, “Not a Real Hurricane Unless Jim Cantore Shows Up!”

Cantore is perhaps the most well-known TV meteorologist in the U.S. when it comes to extreme weather. The Weather Channel co-host is particularly notorious for showing up at the landfall of major hurricanes, staving off blistering wind and blinding rain as the eye wall comes ashore.

Nate Dyer, who co-owns Forest Ridge Campground with his parents, said the sign about Jim Cantore conjured when his father asked him a question.

“I got a call from my dad a couple days ago. He asked me to change the sign to something hurricane related. So, I just kind of thought around and that’s what popped in my head,” Dyer told WABI. “It’s not a real hurricane unless Jim Cantore shows up.”

LA Bykowsky, a Florida native who spends many summers camping at this site, told WABI she “loved” the sign about Cantore.

“I love it. The first thing anybody thinks of with a hurricane is Jim Cantore. At least we do from Florida, for sure. And I think Nate did a great job with what he put up,” Bykowsky told the local news station.

Bykowsky said she does a “hurricane dance” in Florida to try and keep the big storms away, and that she’s doing the same dance in Maine in hopes to push Lee to the east.

“I’m always attuned to the hurricane season, and I actually have a ritual where I go up on top of either Cadillac or Blue Hill mountain and I do a hurricane dance to ward it away from home,” Bykowsky said. “And so about 10 days ago, I was up there making sure Lee did not go towards Florida, and I did a pretty good job, and I kept on telling it to go east. So, I’m still hoping to keep it away from us here in Maine.”

Though the Cantore sign was made in good fun, Dyer said the campground is taking the pending storm seriously and for people to use their best judgment while staying safe.

“We’re not too sure what’s going to happen ourselves. So, if you want to still come in, come in. If not, then use your own judgment,” Dyer said.

Hurricane Lee was a Category 1 storm on Friday with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, but the storm has been weakening in strength. Lee is forecast to downgrade to a tropical storm by Saturday before making landfall in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia if it misses Maine.

So, maybe Dyer’s right. It wouldn’t be a real hurricane after all.