David Payne thinks it may snow in a few weeks…

Congratulations to News 9's David Payne!

He's the winner of TLO's first-ever Excellence in Winter Weather Fearmongering Award. It recognizes and honors the first TV meteorologist to forecast snow or ice for the upcoming winter weather season.

Payne obliterated the competition with this Facebook post from November 6th where he predicted winter weather for the week of Thanksgiving:

Yep, that's real. David Payne is now forecasting snowfall three weeks in advance. Call me crazy, but I may wait a few weeks before running to Walmart to stock up on milk and ice melt. The media hasn't exactly had the best track record over the last couple of years when it's come to predicting winter weather in this state. They can barely figure out what's going to happen in 24-hours, much less three weeks.

But, you know what, who cares? It's sweeps month and Channel 9 is having a contest for readers to guess which day will receive the first snowfall. You can't blame David Payne for being a company man and sacrificing a bit of integrity to help the station get viewers. Plus, he got some Facebook shares and likes out of the deal. Those are always nice.

Speaking of Facebook likes, someone asked Aaron Tuttle, the O.G. of Facebook weather fearmongering, what he thought about the forecast. Check out the response:

Wow. Look at that! Aaron Tuttle actually handled something with a bit of class. That's cool. You know he had to be bothered by Payne's forecast and the 1,000+ Facebook shares it received. To get even, expect AT to declare the spring's first advanced tornado warning in December.

Anyway, I guess we'll wait around and see if David Payne's forecast is correct. You never know. Even fat guys get lucky sometimes.

David's actually in a good spot. If OKC is hit with a blizzard, ice storm and surprise attacked by Yukon Cornelius, he can tell the world he was right and that you "heard it here first." If he's wrong and nothing happens, he can blame "changing conditions" and "El Nino" and then promptly predict a round of winter weather for Christmas to get people talking. It really is a win-win.