The forecast in New York may call for rain but Al Roker is bringing a ray of sunshine.
After a two-month absence from Today due to health reasons, the weatherman made his emotional return to the show on Jan. 6.
"My heart is just bursting," Al, who appeared alongside his wife and ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts, shared. "I'm just so thrilled to see all of you and all the crew and everybody. Right now, I'm running on adrenaline. I'm just thrilled to be here."
Getting there wasn't an easy journey. In November, Al was admitted to the hospital for blood clots in his leg and lungs. Though he returned home for Thanksgiving, he was back in the hospital days later due to complications with his recovery.
"It's not lost on us that this is a major, major thing for Al to be here," Deborah said. "He is a living, breathing miracle. He really is. And I have to say, I'm not overstating it I don't think, Al was a very, very, very sick man and I think most people did not know that."
In fact, as she put it, Al was a "medical mystery" for some time.
"It was a team that had to figure out what was happening," Deborah noted. "It was the most tumultuous, frightening journey we have ever been on."
As Al explained, he had "two complicating things": the blood clots and internal bleeding, noting he'd "lost half" of the blood in his body. After trying to figure out what exactly was going on, doctors finally got their answer.
"Finally they went in, did the surgery and it ended up two bleeding ulcers, had to resection the colon, take out my gallbladder, redo my duodenum," Al said, then joking, "I went in for one operation, I got four free. So I got that going for me."
However, he stated that, at the time, he didn't fully understand the severity of what was happening.
"What Deborah did the most for me was I had no idea how bad off I was," the 68-year-old noted. "I thought I was doing pretty good."
Through it all, Al never lost his positive spirit. "Al and I were sitting there one day," Deborah recalled, "through this very scratchy voice and he was so gaunt and exhausted he said, 'I'm going to make a spatchcock turkey for Christmas.' I didn't know whether to burst into tears or just to beam."
She later continued, "I'm sitting here hoping he's going to make it to Christmas and he wants to make a turkey. I just knew at that point that will, that drive is so, so strong."
Al returned home from the hospital in December. While he certainly credits his doctors for improving his health, he also gave a shout-out to Deborah, his three children (Courtney, 35; Leila, 24; and Nicholas, 20), and his Today family and friends for their support.
"I'm blessed," he said. "I have great healthcare, but I had this woman next to me and taking care of me and my family and this family here."
(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family).