Was Your Local Meteorologist Laid Off? Weather Channel Deal Leads to Cuts

[DrQ]

Was Your Local Meteorologist Laid Off? Weather Channel Deal Leads to Cuts​

On January 18, Allen Media Group announced in a press release that it is "rolling out a groundbreaking format for local weather coverage powered by The Weather Channel across local markets nationwide."​

​

In place of the local weather meteorologists, the Allen Media Group is implementing a headquarters based in Atlanta, which will be led by Carl Parker, a storm and climate specialist and 20-year veteran of The Weather Channel. The initiative will bring "additional visual storytelling capabilities" using "state-of-the-art technology and deep resources."​

...​

• Hunter Donahoe
• Garett Hamilton, weekday morning meteorologist at WSIL in Carterville, Illinois
• Jacie Brianne Paredes, chief meteorologist at WSIL in Carterville, Illinois
• Gunnar Consol, senior meteorologist at WEVV in Evansville, Indiana
• Kevin Orpurt, chief meteorologist at WTHI in Terre Haute, Indiana
• Beverly Perry, chief meteorologist at WFFT in Fort Wayne, Indiana
• Eric Segbor, meteorologist at WLFI in Lafayette, Indiana
• Chad Evans, meteorologist at WLFI in Lafayette, Indiana
• Marck Schnackenberg, meteorologist at KWWL in Waterloo, Iowa
• Joshua Franson, meteorologist at KWWL in Waterloo, Iowa
• Holden LeCroy, chief meteorologist at KEZI in Eugene, Oregon
• Amber Kulick, meteorologist at WAAY in Huntsville, Alabama
• Matt Laubhan, chief meteorologist at WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi

According to a petition on Change.org, there are other affected stations across the country, from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Eau Clair, Wisconsin, and Tucson, Arizona.​

Was your local meteorologist laid off? Weather Channel deal leads to cuts

The Allen Media Group's new deal with The Weather Channel is jeopardizing the jobs of dozens of local meteorologists nationwide.

www.newsweek.com

 

[sdbrier]

Yes. Our area was affected.

 

[TolmiePeak]

Why would local TV stations bother to hire meteorologists? A college communications intern or some computer generated person can read the weather.

 

[DrQ]

Why would local TV stations bother to hire meteorologists? A college communications intern or some computer generated person can read the weather.

Yeah, I guess you don't live in tornado country. In our area, local stations have installed private doppler radar to give pinpoint accuracy of storm paths down to your neighborhood.

 

[jp10558]

Why would local TV stations bother to hire meteorologists? A college communications intern or some computer generated person can read the weather.

TBH, at least where I live since about 1998 or so and finding the Weatherunderground site with their array of personal weather stations feeding their models, local TV weather became completely irrelevant. (Not to mention it was wrong so much more than wunderground was) Then about ... my 10 years ago now? Weatherunderground was bought out and went downhill fast. Dark Sky was my replacement till that was bought out and shut down. Now the best option I've found is the Shadow Weather app. I use My Radar if there's a major storm right near me I'm worried about as it's a bit higher resolution radar and faster updated, but that's rare that I need that where I live. Maybe a few times a year.

So anyway - I'm kind of surprised there was much draw from local TV weather anymore at all anyway.

 

[stmartinfan]

In Minnesota, having a good meteorologist is one of the big selling points for local TV news stations. The weather guy or gal often gets featured in the stations promo ads and weather plays an important part in the news broadcasts.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

Why would local TV stations bother to hire meteorologists?

I remember that in our 3rd year of living on the CA coast, I thought "Meteorologist on the CA coast (esp this part of it) must be the easiest job in the world."
Anybody enough of a meteorologist to know the "4 Day Cycle" in the Bay Area? Bit tougher job here. They have to count to 4 many times.
"1 - 2 -3 -4. 1 - 2 -3 -4. 1 - 2 -3 -4. 1 - 2 -3 -4. 1 - 2 -3 -4. "

 

[DrQ]

I remember that in our 3rd year of living on the CA coast, I thought "Meteorologist on the CA coast (esp this part of it) must be the easiest job in the world."
Anybody enough of a meteorologist to know the "4 Day Cycle" in the Bay Area? Bit tougher job here. They have to count to 4 many times.
"1 - 2 -3 -4. 1 - 2 -3 -4. 1 - 2 -3 -4. 1 - 2 -3 -4. 1 - 2 -3 -4. "

Thinking of the suffering in LA

 

[Timeshare Von]

Was Your Local Meteorologist Laid Off? Weather Channel Deal Leads to Cuts​

On January 18, Allen Media Group announced in a press release that it is "rolling out a groundbreaking format for local weather coverage powered by The Weather Channel across local markets nationwide."​

​

In place of the local weather meteorologists, the Allen Media Group is implementing a headquarters based in Atlanta, which will be led by Carl Parker, a storm and climate specialist and 20-year veteran of The Weather Channel. The initiative will bring "additional visual storytelling capabilities" using "state-of-the-art technology and deep resources."​

...​

• Hunter Donahoe
• Garett Hamilton, weekday morning meteorologist at WSIL in Carterville, Illinois
• Jacie Brianne Paredes, chief meteorologist at WSIL in Carterville, Illinois
• Gunnar Consol, senior meteorologist at WEVV in Evansville, Indiana
• Kevin Orpurt, chief meteorologist at WTHI in Terre Haute, Indiana
• Beverly Perry, chief meteorologist at WFFT in Fort Wayne, Indiana
• Eric Segbor, meteorologist at WLFI in Lafayette, Indiana
• Chad Evans, meteorologist at WLFI in Lafayette, Indiana
• Marck Schnackenberg, meteorologist at KWWL in Waterloo, Iowa
• Joshua Franson, meteorologist at KWWL in Waterloo, Iowa
• Holden LeCroy, chief meteorologist at KEZI in Eugene, Oregon
• Amber Kulick, meteorologist at WAAY in Huntsville, Alabama
• Matt Laubhan, chief meteorologist at WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi

According to a petition on Change.org, there are other affected stations across the country, from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Eau Clair, Wisconsin, and Tucson, Arizona.​

Was your local meteorologist laid off? Weather Channel deal leads to cuts

The Allen Media Group's new deal with The Weather Channel is jeopardizing the jobs of dozens of local meteorologists nationwide.

www.newsweek.com

Good luck with that! Small town community media and meteorologists are important to the safety of residents . . . especially in areas known for severe weather (i.e., tornadoes and/or blizards). It's a shame to see this happening.

 

[Timeshare Von]

Why would local TV stations bother to hire meteorologists? A college communications intern or some computer generated person can read the weather.

You really are clueless!

 

[Timeshare Von]

Yeah, I guess you don't live in tornado country. In our area, local stations have installed private doppler radar to give pinpoint accuracy of storm paths down to your neighborhood.

EXACTLY! I know enough to know we need professionally trained meteorologists stationed and reporting locally, not from some centralized place or company like the Weather Channel.

 

[Luanne]

We have six weather people on the local station I watch. I think only a few of them are actual meteorologists. So far they haven't been impacted.

Update. There are five weather people, four of them are meteorologists. The fifth is labeled a reporter, but he does the weather on the weekends.

 

[emeryjre]

People will have the option to change channels to the station that still has a local weatherperson

 

[DrQ]

EXACTLY! I know enough to know we need professionally trained meteorologists stationed and reporting locally, not from some centralized place or company like the Weather Channel.

The Weather Channel meteorologists are experts of LARGE scale systems. Even meso sized storms are fairly accurate, but those are still warnings over a county. Even if I were to subscribe to the WC premier service, the delay built into their radar is not acceptable.

I'm afraid that with DOGE, there will be a new push to abolish the National Weather Service as was done before:
Starting in 2016:

Congressman’s idea to privatize NWS forecasts gets icy reception among broadcast meteorologists.

By Dan Satterfield I’m hearing a lot of talk among my fellow forecasters about legislation (introduced by an Oklahoma congressman) that would privatize many forecast functions of the NWS. You might think that private sector meteorologists would support this, but almost every broadcast metr. I...

thebridge.agu.org

Now:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politi...s-about-the-national-weather-service-and-noaa

 

[WaikikiFirst]

Thinking of the suffering in LA

Well that is because you don't actually understand the topic.

Karen Bass left L.A. for Africa as wind, fire warnings increased. She returned to a burning city

With Mayor Karen Bass far from L.A., Rick Caruso, her opponent in the 2022 election, swept in to fill the gap, blasting the city’s handling of the wildfires.

www.latimes.com

Quote from the LA Times: "The National Weather Service began warning of potentially strong winds — amid "extreme fire conditions" — on Thursday, two days before Bass left for Ghana."

Note the word National. and now back to anything local. Do you think the local meteorologists will be out on their scooters looking for arsonists?

 

[TolmiePeak]

Yeah, I guess you don't live in tornado country. In our area, local stations have installed private doppler radar to give pinpoint accuracy of storm paths down to your neighborhood.

I rely on the National Weather Service.

 

[TolmiePeak]

People will have the option to change channels to the station that still has a local weatherperson

Yeah but younger residents don't watch TV anymore and don't have Cable TV. They are tethered to their phones.

 

[TolmiePeak]

EXACTLY! I know enough to know we need professionally trained meteorologists stationed and reporting locally, not from some centralized place or company like the Weather Channel.

Why? What is wrong with National Weather Service?

 

[DrQ]

Why? What is wrong with National Weather Service?

Nothing. As long as it is still a free service. Their research has led to correlation of doppler radar and ground observations which now allows for warning based off radar indicated signatures rather than observers. But the time of that being a free service may be coming to an end.

 

[DrQ]

Well that is because you don't actually understand the topic.

I understand that the fire situation in Cali has been mismanaged for years.

From a holistic standpoint:

• Building and rebuilding above ground utilities
• Ignoring brush remediation
• Delaying reservoir maintenance until fire season (it may be simpler and less expensive, but ...)
• Evolving building codes to remediate fires

 

[emeryjre]

January is not fire season in Southern California
January is usually in the middle of rainy season
The major water storage locations of Southern California are full
Northern and Central California has received plenty of water to fill the reservoirs of SoCal

 

[WaikikiFirst]

From a holistic standpoint

That is a good start. I could add more, but instead, some details on those.

Delaying reservoir maintenance until fire season

I'm not at all sure that is the #1 issue with CA reservoirs.
There are not enough reservoirs and the ones that exist do not have the capacity they used to because they slowly fill with silt. Like most things in CA, the battle between environmentalists and fixer-uppers means nobody can agree on where to put the silt IF they took it out. Lack of reservoirs? Here you go.

A few yrs ago, maybe Oct of 2022 (maybe 2021?), a group of people I sometimes cycle with scheduled a ride out nr the Central Valley. It started nr Livermore Labs, went out to CV, then south, then turned back west to go thru DEL PUERTO CANYON. Marketing for the ride was "LAST CHANCE TO EVER CYCLE THRU DEL PUERTO" because next spring the road will close permanently so they can build a reservoir. I went. Good ride.

Fast-fwd 18 months. I again got a call about a ride along the same route. I called the guy and asked "what happened? Wasn't that last ride supposed to be the last chance?" He laughed "Well, ya, but lawsuits delayed, maybe cancelled the reservoir." Here you go

Del Puerto Canyon

Victory! Lawsuit Overturns Approvals for Bad Reservoir A Stanislaus County Superior Court judge has rejected the environmental review conducted for the proposed Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir, an 82,000-acre-feet-of-water project. It would…

savemountdiablo.org

(note: DPC & Mt Diablo are nowhere near each other. idk, maybe 70 miles apart. DPC may be in Mt Diablo's "watershed" but I think that'd be a stretch too.)

Evolving building codes to remediate fires

Here you go

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/california-is-years-behind-in-implementing-a-law-20039865.php

Anyone who has spent any time investigating that area can only be amazed at the dystopian maze

 

[WaikikiFirst]

January is not fire season in Southern California. January is usually in the middle of rainy season

I guess this is just another excuse for terrible preparation and reaction for/to these fires. In mid-Jan, had people not noticed that rainy season had not begun? I spent 3 wks out of the state in Nov-Dec and I sure noticed the Bay Area had had zero big rains and only a few with even maybe 0.5". All my neighbors seemed to know too.

major water storage locations of Southern California are full

There are not ENOUGH of them. That is why they emptied so quickly when the hoses were turned on. WHY not enough of them? Oh boy ... the things I hear ...

Northern and Central California has received plenty of water to fill the reservoirs of SoCal

The Bay area has had almost no rainy season this yr. The Central Coast also well below avg. Maybe you mean Tahoe? That "plenty of water" is a lousy perspective, a specious comment. If you don't have enough reservoir capacity, it doesn't take much water to fill them. It also doesn't take much fire-fighting to empty them. Let's see. If the water pressure runs low before the fire is out, does that qualify as "plenty of water"?
Note: another beautiful sunny day here. No rain, though the weather forecast update did just say we might get 0.33" of rain on one day next wk. 0.33" of rain every two weeks. Sure. Plenty.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

Northern and Central California has received plenty of water to fill the reservoirs of SoCal

Would someone like to discuss all the rules about HOW the reservoirs in CA may be filled? Anyone?

 

[TolmiePeak]

Would someone like to discuss all the rules about HOW the reservoirs in CA may be filled? Anyone?

You can see the status of the major reservoirs in California here...

Major Water Supply Reservoirs