Al Roker, Bill de Blasio find closure on 'Today'
Mayor Bill de Blasio and NBC weatherman Al Roker, who earlier this month feuded over de Blasio's call to keep schools open despite a snowstorm, appeared together Monday on the "Today" show to make amends with gifts and photos.
Roker on Feb. 13 criticized de Blasio for a decision that Roker said jeopardized schoolchildren's safety and took to Twitter with a barbed prediction: "Long range DiBlasio [sic] forecast: 1 term."
The mayor later that day shot back at a news conference that running a city was different from reading the weather.
But they seemed chummy Monday when de Blasio visited the morning show in midtown Manhattan to cut the ribbon on its new plaza.
"We'll get this out of the way. We had a little, little chat about school closings and snow, and we want the best for the school kids and our city," Roker said.
"That's right," de Blasio said. "And now look, I think together, letting people know what's going on with the weather, letting people know how they can be safe, that's something we do together."
De Blasio pointed out that snow is expected to come back to the city in the next few days and presented Roker with a Department of Sanitation hat emblazoned "DSNY." He invited Roker "to come out and join us for snow clearance."
Roker replied: "I'd love to do it," adding, "My dad was a bus driver, and he used to drive a snow-clearing bus." The on-air chat lasted less than a minute.
De Blasio on Sunday made light of the spat, tweeting at Roker and the "Today" show, "Long-term forecast: sunny."
Roker's "one-term" insult was one of several tweets aimed at de Blasio on Feb. 13. Roker apologized on the air Feb. 14.