WABI TV 5 Weatherman Loses It Mid-forecast On Live TV

If you've been alive through the last 6 years or so, you know that life has been trying recently, to say the least. With doom, gloom, fear, and negativity topping news feeds far and wide, we sometimes forget how it feels to smile and let our guard down.

But we also know that laughter can be contagious, and a really good way to de-stress sometimes. And laughter, when it's spontaneous and beyond your control, is some of the best medicine around.

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News viewers in Maine got a good dose of that medicine this weekend, from a local meteorologist who caught a bad case of the giggles. And try as he may, WABI TV 5's Patrick Osborn just could not recover.

Let me preface what I'm about to describe by saying Patrick Osborn is a very professional man who is great at his job. This is not a depiction of what he typically puts out for content. This was definitely a one-off situation.

With that being said, it was hilarious!

It all started during the 8 AM newscast Sunday morning, August 23rd. You can watch it all unfold for yourself via the station's website in the Video On Demand section. Just look for the August 23rd morning broadcast.

About 53 minutes in, Meteorologist Patrick Osborn starts his Rainfall Report. He makes it through that all right, but then, about 37 seconds in, as he transitions to his Hour-By-Hour report, he steps towards the green screen, looking off-camera, and you can see his eyes light up and hear a little chuckle in his voice.

At 54 minutes in, still smiling, he says, "Sorry, we're having a little bit of a scene off-screen," and then continues.

Still looking off-screen and taking a few deep breaths, Osborn does his best to keep collected despite something obviously trying to steal his focus from the forecast at hand. He even makes another apology at 54:13 in, with a light-hearted chuckle.

Osborn struggles slightly through the forecast to the day, makes it through the Dew Points, and powers through the Wind Gust Forecast. He fares pretty well for the Rainfall Forecast, the Marine Forecast, the Hour-By-Hour forecast, and the talk of Severe Thunderstorm risk.

After that, things start to slip beyond anyone's saving.

At 55 minutes and 32 seconds into the Sunday morning forecast, something inside of this meteorologist broke, and he began to unravel into what can only be called the most amusing, almost unintelligible squeaking and snorting I've ever heard.

Osoborn got the words "We've got to finish up this weather right now! I'm so sorry!" out before it became complete comedic gibberish.

Viewer Jerry Cox saw the newscasts unfold live and backed it up on his DirectTV. He went on to share the clip on his social media page, saying, "The world needs more of this right now, more laughter. We're all human, and it's ok to make mistakes! " You can see his clip here.

Struggling hard to keep his already lost composure, you can see Osborn place his hand over his mouth and step off screen, hoping that will help...But it does not.

"I've never had this happen before. Oh geez, let me get it together real quick. I'm so sorry..." and then he tries to give the Dew Points again but starts to sob/laugh (which is the best, in my opinion!)

For almost a minute, this man....this meteorologist tries SO hard to deliver the forecast. He tries and tries, and after about a minute he returns to the split screen and almost begs the anchor, Josh Gabbard, "Josh, please take it!"

Gabbard's reply? "Whatever happened to professionalism, Patrick? Thanks, buddy!"

By the next weather break, Osborn was back to normal, and whatever case of the giggles he had had had passed.

Now, I bring this example to your attention, not to make fun of Osborn's dilemma in the least. I want to thank him. I'm sure, in the moment, he was a little embarrassed about what happened on the air. Having worked in broadcasting for over 25 years myself, I have had many a moment of regret on the air, and lots of those were due to excessive laughter.

So I say this from a place of complete empathy for him, but also understanding of the big picture.

What Osborn's segment of silliness did was allow all who watched it to take a moment and laugh with him. How could you not?! It immediately brought me back to some of the best, uncontrollable laugh-til-you-cry moments in my life. My guess is his contagious laughter was caught by many a viewer that morning, and many since it aired. And that's a good thing. We all need to catch a case of the sillies now and then.

He's not the only TV 5 meteorologist who's made us laugh. They're human, just like us, and they all have their moments.

Remember when Todd Simcox's turkey broke the air-fryer?

Or when former WABI Meteorologist Greg Dutra was delighted by a moving map, live on the air?

And it's not just WABI; weather forecasters from across the state have had their fair share of fun on the air.

The bottom line is this: I'm not sure what it was that set Osborn off Sunday morning. We may never know, and that's totally fine. I'm just glad that Maine got to share in this funny moment. I know I'm not the only one who watched this on repeat. It made me laugh. It made my kids laugh. It made my friends laugh. And the laughter wasn't at Osborn, but with him. He literally shared his laughter with us that morning, and for that little bit of respite from the heaviness of the world, I am grateful.

I will close by speaking directly to the man himself:

Thank you, Patrick. I know your perspective of how that unfolded might feel a little different, but from where we sit, I think we all needed a good old-fashioned belly laugh. And you came through with it.

With much appreciation for the giggles and the tears,

Cori