Last year, men’s lacrosse player Otis Klingbeil ’20 of Columbus, Ohio, took on a team task: keeping his teammates informed about the fickle Maine weather so everyone comes to practices and games with the right gear.

“I didn’t want to have to repeat myself 40 times to the guys on the team,” Klingbeil said. “So I figured, what better way than to start an Instagram account?”

Thus was born a phenomenon:

From Assistant Sports Information Director Aaron Morse, here’s a video about the student-run Instagram account ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½mlaxweather.

At first, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½mlaxweather did only what the name says, providing game-day weather forecasts for players. Klingbeil’s initial posts featured marked-up screen shots from a weather app, plus hashtags like #catsloverain.

Otis Klingbeil ’20, “chief meteorologist” for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½mlaxweather, which has morphed into a weather/comedy site. (Theophil Syslo/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

But soon, trading on his audience’s knowledge of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and NESCAC, Klingbeil, the self-styled “chief meteorologist” for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½mlaxweather, veered toward humor.

And it turns out that the Bobcats, perennial NESCAC powers, are pretty good when they give comedy a shot.

Mining rich territory covered a few generations ago by National Lampoon and more recently by websites like College Humor and Funny or Die, Klingbeil, along with collaborator Jack Maritz ’18, began offering good-natured videos rich in satire and parody, like “The Most Interesting Cat in the World.” (He asks Security for their IDs.)

Jack Maritz ’18 is the “hydration expert” for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½mlaxweather. (Theophil Syslo/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

In a parody of Matthew McConaughey’s Lincoln car commercials, Charles Harker ’19 drives around a snowy downtown Lewiston before an early March game vs. the Wesleyan Cardinals, drawling nonsensical comments about cats and birds: “In the wintertahm, there are a lotta hungry cats around.”

Halfway through the video, Klingbeil snaps at Fein, “You keeping up with this?”

In another sketch, Klingbeil and Maritz lecture Director of Athletics Jason Fein, a relative newcomer, on the NESCAC pecking order. (The Continentals won’t pose a threat, advises Maritz, because no one makes musket ammo any more.) Halfway through the video, Klingbeil snaps at Fein, “You keeping up with this?”

From left, Klingbeil, Maritz, and ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½mlaxweather’s “unpaid intern,” Spencer Fox ’21.

With nearly 1,000 followers as mid-April, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½mlaxweather is the second-largest student-run Instagram account at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. (Tops is the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Photography Club,  with more than 1,100 followers.)

Head coach Peter Lasagna is proud of what his players have created. “It shows that we have smart, funny, and interesting people in our program.” (Ironically, the coach himself is famously Internet-averse: He has no social media accounts of his own.)

With useful information, an authentic feel, and entertaining content, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½mlaxweather does what we’ve long been told social media should do: In this case, create community among a group of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students, families, and friends. Says Maritz, “It’s been a lot of fun to engage the community like this.”

As parents descend on campus from around the country and world for Back to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, the annual weekend that welcomes both parents and ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ alumni, the question they want answered (besides “How are your classes?) is this one: “What’s the weather going to be?”

Well, it’s going to be fair — and much warmer than a typical late-September Lewiston weekend.

The high on Friday will be 74, more typical for late August, and Saturday’s will be 80, which is what we’d expect in July. Sunday will be in the 80s! The normal late-September high is 67.

Overnight, the lows will be in the 50s.

Assuming the weekend forecast plays out, here’s what Friday’s and Saturday’s temps in Lewiston will feel like for our ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ families:

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Oct. 31 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Oct. 10 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will be 8 degrees warmer than a typical day in your warmest month, July.

Saturday will feel very hot, especially given that Anchorage’s all-time record high is 87 degrees.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Oct. 6 back home.

Saturday will feel warm: Your July–October average highs never get above 75.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Sept. 22 back home.

Although the typical high temperature never gets to 80 in LA, Saturday will feel almost like a typical Sept. 1 (79 degrees) back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel 3 degrees warmer than a typical day in your warmest month, September.

Saturday will feel 12 degrees warmer than a typical September day.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Nov. 24 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Oct. 22 back home.

For the family coming from 

Friday will feel like a typical Oct. 1 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Sept. 16 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical day in your coolest month, January.

Saturday will feel like a typical Nov. 21 back home.

For the family coming from

Welcome to Maine: Friday will feel 2 degrees cooler than a typical day in your coolest month, January.

Saturday will feel like a typical Nov. 28 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel about 6 degrees cooler than a typical day in your coolest month, January.

Saturday will feel like a typical Dec. 15 back home.

(Hint: Lewiston’s overnight low in the 50s will approximate record lows for various sea-level spots in Hawaii.)

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Sept. 1 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Aug. 16 back home.

(Hint: While Lewiston’s high is similar to Ketchum’s this time of year, our overnight low in the 50s will feel balmy compared to your near-freezing low.)

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Sept. 24 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Aug. 31 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Oct. 4 back home.

Saturday will feel just like a typical Sept. 20 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Sept. 13 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Aug. 19 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Sept. 10 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Aug. 20 home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Sept. 1 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Aug. 17 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Sept. 26 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Sept. 9 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Oct. 10 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Sept. 23 back home.

For the family coming from .

Friday will feel like a typical Sept. 22 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Aug. 27 back home.

For the family coming from .

Friday will feel like a typical Sept. 22 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Sept. 3 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Oct. 16 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Sept. 29 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Oct. 30 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Oct. 12 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Nov. 20 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Oct. 23 back home.

For the family coming from

Friday will feel like a typical Sept. 26 back home.

Saturday will feel like a typical Sept. 12 back home.

International

For the family coming from

Friday will be feel about 7 degrees cooler than your usual year-round high temperature of 82 to 84.

Saturday is going to feel just a couple degrees cooler than home.

(Hint: The nighttime temperature in Maine will be in the 50s, or 20 degrees cooler than Barbados’.)

For the family coming from

Lewiston will feel warm: Friday will be about 6 degrees warmer than a typical day in November, your warmest month.

Saturday will be 14 degrees warmer than a November day.

For the family coming from

Friday will be about the same as a typical mid-70s day in your warmest month, July.

Saturday will be 7 degrees warmer than a typical mid-70s day in your warmest month, July.

Taken at 8:10 p.m. on Sept. 11, this image by ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ photographer Mike Bradley shows a cloud-to-cloud lightning strike from an approaching thunderstorm.

The buildings shown in the image are Hedge Hall (left) and Pettengill Hall (right). The walkway in middle is Alumni Walk. The camera is facing northwest.

Click here to open a window featuring a high-resolution version of the image.

Lightning from an approaching thunderstorm illuminates buildings on the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ campus on Sept. 11, 2013. (Mike Bradley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)