Here’s a dirty family secret for you: the women in my family have a thing for weathermen. Dave Dahl, Paul Douglas, Kenny Barlow, even Sven the pocket meteorologist. For a long time I didn’t get it. Then I discovered Dude Weather and the clouds parted and the sun began to shine. Jimmy “Dutch” Gaines is the best weatherman on the local scene. I start every weekday morning with him, and you should too.

What book(s) are you currently reading?
I just finished The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts by Tom Farley and Tanner Colby and I’m about to start Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Who?
Yes. Jordan Baker from The Great Gatsby. She’s beautiful, arrogant, rudderless, morally bankrupt, an empty vessel.

I always seem to fall for women like that.

If your favorite author came to Minnesota, who would it be and what bar would you take him/her to?
If Frederick Exley was still alive, I’d take him to the Ranier Municipal bar in Ranier, Minnesota. I think it would remind him of his hometown of Watertown NY.

What was your first favorite book?
The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald. As a kid, it was comforting to know that brains could win out over brawn. It helped me endure the tauntings and beatings that marked my scholastic career.

Let’s say Fahrenheit 451 comes to life, which book would you become in order to save it from annihilation?
On The Road by Jack Kerouac, so I could represent the “mad ones.”

What is one book you haven’t read but want to read before you die?
Years ago, the kindest woman in the world gave me a copy of Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro. It’s over 1100 pages long, weighs a ton, and is so intimidating that I’ve yet to finish it.

You can watch Jimmy “Dutch” Gaines very weekday on Dude Weather.