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Friday Night Storm Coverage

I wasn't impressed with CBS Atlanta's attempt to cover the severe weather. Their weather presenter wasn't strong enough to carry the moment without the constant aid of her news co-anchor and some voice in the background. It's really no change from Dagmar. Laura Huckabee, we really miss you. Their technical effort offered little on-camera presence for any of their talent. One would think they would show the team in a more compelling manor to make the viewer more engaged with the talent. They've certainly rammed that "Tough Questions" thing down your throat for so long. However, Mike Francis on WXIA was stellar and offered some nice, new people friendly terms about the weather for the audience. Great addition to the market. Glenn and Ken were in their usual polished and professional modes.
 
46 was horrible. Too bad they won't consider giving Ossmann a more prominent role. Thought Francis was the worst. Holcomb does a MUCH better job there than anyone at 11. Fox 5 was on top of their game. Ken Cook was very strong. Channel 2- Burns was strong (though he is not my favorite in Atlanta), Nitz is awful. Chanley is much stronger in that role than Nitz.
 
Mike Francisat 11ALIV teamed with Chris Holcomb was great. I assume 11 ALIVE now has a LIVE radar near Six Flags. Mike kept mentioning this islive radadr,not 4 and 6 minute old data. CBS Atlanta was horrible, however I like Markina Brown. The weather maps and displays they use are awful!
 
ShawtyBlack_ATL said:
Mike Francisat 11ALIV teamed with Chris Holcomb was great. I assume 11 ALIVE now has a LIVE radar near Six Flags. Mike kept mentioning this is live radar, not 4 and 6 minute old data.

I thought 11Alive was the best in my opinion, even when the radar detected tornado was at my front door (I was in the cross-hairs for it, lucky, it shifted north, and no damage here.) I thought they did well, when their computer locked up and Mike asked the control room to switch to their backup, impressive.

The one suggestion, and I'm not really sure why more stations don't do this, is put the radar site further away from the populous area. The problem was when the storm started to get close to Marietta, it was in the radar's cone of silence. Put the radar further away from your main demographic area, like out in the sticks.
 
notalkallstatic said:
ShawtyBlack_ATL said:
Mike Francisat 11ALIV teamed with Chris Holcomb was great. I assume 11 ALIVE now has a LIVE radar near Six Flags. Mike kept mentioning this is live radar, not 4 and 6 minute old data.

I thought 11Alive was the best in my opinion, even when the radar detected tornado was at my front door (I was in the cross-hairs for it, lucky, it shifted north, and no damage here.) I thought they did well, when their computer locked up and Mike asked the control room to switch to their backup, impressive.

The one suggestion, and I'm not really sure why more stations don't do this, is put the radar site further away from the populous area. The problem was when the storm started to get close to Marietta, it was in the radar's cone of silence. Put the radar further away from your main demographic area, like out in the sticks.

When rotation was near Marietta,11 ALIVE had to use the NWS radar out of Peachtree City. Does anyone know if 11 ALIVE just got a live doppler or they've always had it? Channel 2 does have a live doppler located out west near the AL/GA state line near I-20. They seem to never use it during storm coverage though. As for FOX 5's coverage, they were using Vipir,but it wasn't live. It refreshed every 5minutes. I know for a fact CBS Atlanta doesn't have a live doppler.
 
2, 5, and 11 have their own radars and have had for years. I am glad I finally saw 2 use one of the "dual pol" products on air, which their radar has. I was watching the dual pol products from the NWS nexrad radar in Peachtree city via a third party software package I have. But, to the average viewer, that information would be way over their head as to what it means.

Now that I think about it, all three have their radars located to the west of town. So, the fact that the storm passed close to all three locations is just chance. As far as location of the radars, it's like anything else, a fine balance.. too close and you run into issues with ground clutter, too far away and you miss detail.

The part that gets me is they will rave about the capabilities of their radar systems they have, and then continually use the feed from the nexrad in Peachtree City - and say it takes several minutes to update...
Well, yeah... The nexrad radar takes a couple of minutes because of how it scans the atmosphere.

I wish the television stations would use the capabilities of their systems more because of at which the rate it updates, and then confirm what their radar is detecting against what the nexrad is showing as it updates, since the nexrad is more comprehensive.
That would be the best of both worlds. The speed of showing the public where the severe weather is most likely occurring by using their own radars products it produces (precip and velocity, or dual pol if you’re WSB), and then comparing that with what the nexrad is detecting… especially since it is a different system, at a different location, looking at any given storm at a different angle.
 
Without a doubt Glenn and Brad on Channel 2 are the best when it comes to tracking the storms. When there are storms in the area, my TV is on Channel 2 and no place else!
 
CBS Atlanta's chief meteorologist, Markina Brown, is a certified meteorologist with the AMS and NWA, but she apparently doesn't know much about streets or landmarks in Metro Atlanta.

11 Alive has 1-million watt dollar radar in Austell, and it has been operated since 2005.
FOX 5 has a radar as well, but almost never use it. Last time I saw it, it was still using old reflectivity that was common to see with radars back in the 1990s. It's like the radar Columbus TV station, WTVM uses, it is old as hell...
WSB-TV has a radar in Buchanan right off I-20. Dual pole radar, installed last year.
 
vpgrar said:
2, 5, and 11 have their own radars and have had for years. I am glad I finally saw 2 use one of the "dual pol" products on air, which their radar has. I was watching the dual pol products from the NWS nexrad radar in Peachtree city via a third party software package I have. But, to the average viewer, that information would be way over their head as to what it means.

Now that I think about it, all three have their radars located to the west of town. So, the fact that the storm passed close to all three locations is just chance. As far as location of the radars, it's like anything else, a fine balance.. too close and you run into issues with ground clutter, too far away and you miss detail.

The part that gets me is they will rave about the capabilities of their radar systems they have, and then continually use the feed from the nexrad in Peachtree City - and say it takes several minutes to update...
Well, yeah... The nexrad radar takes a couple of minutes because of how it scans the atmosphere.

I wish the television stations would use the capabilities of their systems more because of at which the rate it updates, and then confirm what their radar is detecting against what the nexrad is showing as it updates, since the nexrad is more comprehensive.
That would be the best of both worlds. The speed of showing the public where the severe weather is most likely occurring by using their own radars products it produces (precip and velocity, or dual pol if you’re WSB), and then comparing that with what the nexrad is detecting… especially since it is a different system, at a different location, looking at any given storm at a different angle.

No TV station radar (even WSB's very advanced radar) have a RPG - Radar Product Generator like the NWS WSR-88D. The RPG produces many value added products (such as VILS and Rainfall estimates) that TV station radars can't produce. But, the problem with NWS radars is the data is delayed, even with the fake sweeps some vendors allow you to place on the display.
 
ExNuYawker said:
Without a doubt Glenn and Brad on Channel 2 are the best when it comes to tracking the storms. When there are storms in the area, my TV is on Channel 2 and no place else!


On what do you base this comment?
 
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