The last time Jim left, 11 years ago, the channel replaced him with Brendan Horan, who turned out to be a poor fit on several levels, including being too large to comfortably fit onscreen without overlapping the weather map.
Horan went on to have a similar problem with his brief and problematic political career. And meantime, Jim came back in 2007 to stay and firmly imprint himself and his vigorous personal weather-divining style on the national consciousness.
In as much as Judy Bailey, in foolish, innocent, long-ago times, was dubbed the "mother of the nation", then Jim Hickey has perhaps become everybody's uncle. We've all been watching him grow older with us, after all, watched his hairline recede as he bobbed and darted at his infernal maps and charts and viewers' photographs of sunsets and beaches and tui in pohutukawa.
As a nation, of course, we've long spent far too much time and energy obsessing about the weather. And, good grief, if talking about it was ever to make any difference, then Jim's million or so weathery words should long since have saved us from the rain and winds.
Still, he has led the conversation in a lively manner and, in the process, become part of our facial furniture just as the weather has become a bigger and bigger part of One News -- to the point where the weather leads the news.
And last Friday, being Jim's last day, the departing weatherman also made the headlines, as well as closing out the bulletin with a tribute, flowers and an all-staff farewell that may have included tears, though not on Jim's face. If anything, he looked faintly relieved.
It was almost all a bit much, except it was Jim, who was also in top form weathering the news for the very last time, firing off one crazy zinger after another.
"Sun dried the washing in the north" but there's a "dishwasher tomorrow", not to mention the "humid feed" of "dank air" from the "engine room" of weather on the way. And the "clag", whatever that is. It was hanging about, anyway.
As I say, I'm not sure I'll be hanging about for the new weather guy. In early examples of his style, Dan Corbett, a small, excitable English-born meteorologist, does the temperatures like he's calling bingo.
Also, I don't like the way he says "It's 6 o'clock" with his repertory eyebrows arching at me.
But, let's face it, he has a very hard act to follow.
