Meteorologists here, there and high above

Bob Ryan to WJLA almost official

* Does roller coaster weather week end with storms? Full Forecast *

A veteran D.C. weathercaster gets set to return to the local airwaves. A former Houston TV forecaster hopes to try his luck with love. And two trips to space weren't enough for this British-born meteorologist. Here's a brief tour of meteorologists making news locally, nationally and universally...

Bob Ryan

Bob Ryan back soon? The rumor ever since Ryan left his longtime position as chief meteorologist at WRC (Channel 4) in February was that he'd eventually join the weather team at WJLA (Channel 7) led by Doug Hill. It now appears that rumor will become reality, with an announcement "expected within days." This despite a recent report on DCRTV.com that WUSA (Channel 9) was also making an effort to woo Ryan.

Ryan is expected to take over the 11 p.m. news at Channel 7, the Washington Post reports, and also play an important role on TBD.com, the local news Web site scheduled for launch this summer by Allbritton Communications, which owns WJLA, NewsChannel 8 and the Politico Web site and newspaper.

Keep reading for more meteorologists in the news...

Will weather small talk get the girl? Former Houston TV meteorologist Jonathan Novack is a candidate for the next season of ABC's "The Bachelorette." The Houston Chronicle reports that Novack recently said he was leaving KPRC, the local NBC affiliate, "to explore some other areas for his career."

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope... it's a meteorologist: British-born meteorologist Piers Sellers is part of the crew slated to rocket into space this afternoon on what is the Space Shuttle Atlantis's last scheduled trip to space. According to Scientific American, Sellers "will carry to orbit a memento representing a famous fellow Englishman--a piece of the apple tree that allegedly inspired Isaac Newton's theory of gravitation." This would be the NASA astronaut's third flight into space.