severe weather coverage

[johnfox]

Which market do you think does the best job covering severe weather?? I would have to say Oklahoma CIty (KWTV/KFOR/KOCO) and Wichita (KAKE/KSNW/KWCH). And for a small market KSWO in Lawton does a great job. Any thoughts?

 

[kms575]

Good topic. I think it's tough to take this nationwide though, since the level of severity is so different. In Oklahome you have real severe weather. I think im many places it's over exaggerated.

Here in Hartford/New Haven, they tend to emulate that type of coverage, but it's not the same level of weather. If there's a thunderstorm, they have "team coverage." Way over the top if you ask me.

As an example, WFSB Channel 3 last October had a lead story at 11:00 PM for the first frost of the season. They actually had a reporter live out in the middle of nowhere talking about FROST.

 

[ansky212]

I agree, weather on TV stations in the Northeast is greatly exaggerated. Even in NYC a typical rain storm often leads the news as the Top Story with a headline like "Wild Weather". Seems ridiculous to me, especially in the #1 market where you would think there would be more important news to report.

 

[12 In a Row]

I to agree, here in the Northeast it's WAY OVER THE TOP!

In addition, TV news thinks we've never seen white flakes falling from the sky in the winter, and extreme heat coming down from the heavens in the summer.

You can count on them to give us tips on how to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Thank goodness they informed me to drink plenty of water and check in on my elderly parents.
If not for my TV weather people, I would be thirsty and my parents would be DEAD!

Why do they spend the first half of the weathercast telling you what todays weather WAS!
Thank you, we didn't know it was a nice day today.

And whats with giving the temperatures in the different cities and towns?
They vary maybe 4 degrees between one town and another. NewsCenter Team Coverage! Dah, look out the window! ;D

 

[dhett]

Y'all should be in Phoenix when there's a even a chance of rain, especially during the monsoon. Comical!!

 

[Markxxx]

In Chicago the weatherman constantly go off the deep end. Three inches of snow is NOT news. A bolt of lightning and a clap of thunder ISN'T news, except in Chicago. The stations love any opportunity to flash that weather alert in the lower right hand corner.

All it is is overkill and makes it that much harder when a real storm, which Chicago does occasionally get, comes in

 

[Charles1]

Overall, the coverage of severe weather in Birmingham is excellent. Of the four local news stations, the best is probably ABC affiliate WCFT/WJSU (33/40). I'll have to admit that lead anchor James Spann tends to go over the top sometimes, but he is the best local meteorologist. Second best is Fox affiliate WBRC-6, followed by NBC affiliate WVTM-13. Only recently has CBS affiliate WIAT-42 started doing "wall-to-wall" weather when areas in the market are under tornado warnings, but their coverage is good, too.

 

[formeraa]

Y'all should be in Phoenix when there's a even a chance of rain, especially during the monsoon. Comical!!

Phoenix does get rather comical, when there's even a 10% chance of rain. If there's a 30% chance of rain, the weather anchors here have us building arks...

Basically, the weather anchors in Phoenix have so little to do that they read EVERY temperature of EVERY town in Arizona (both current temps and forecast temps). Then, they actually give the national weather so that we know about the snow flurries in the Midwest and the rain in Seattle.

 

[YEKIMI]

You should be watching WEWS in Cleveland. The weatherman there does everything but speak in tongues and have convulsions if severe weather or a heavy snowstorm is on the way and screaming "Take cover IMMEDIATELY, this storm WILL be dangerous, matter of fact, you should kill yourself becuase you WILL NOT live through this storm!" Wall-to-Wall non stop coverage including phone calls from local yokels who he talks to and make statements like "Well, the severe weather isn't here yet, but I do see a couple of dark clouds and my pet chicken is scratching himself with his left foot instead of his right like he does when the weather is nice!" More often then not, nothing happens and the loudest thunderclap you may hear could be overidden by a fly farting.

 

[12 In a Row]

Y'all should be in Phoenix when there's a even a chance of rain, especially during the monsoon. Comical!!

Phoenix does get rather comical, when there's even a 10% chance of rain. If there's a 30% chance of rain, the weather anchors here have us building arks...

Basically, the weather anchors in Phoenix have so little to do that they read EVERY temperature of EVERY town in Arizona (both current temps and forecast temps). Then, they actually give the national weather so that we know about the snow flurries in the Midwest and the rain in Seattle.

Notice they never say, "30% chance of rain, so that means 70% chance of NO rain."

 

[dhett]

Basically, the weather anchors in Phoenix have so little to do that they read EVERY temperature of EVERY town in Arizona (both current temps and forecast temps).

There is a legitmate reason for covering SELECT towns (not every; I've told you a million times not to exaggerate ). The Phoenix stations' signals are repeated throughout central and northern Arizona. Usually, they don't talk about Yuma, and Tucson is important enough in its own right to merit a mention.

Then, they actually give the national weather so that we know about the snow flurries in the Midwest and the rain in Seattle.

If I thought you were the kind of person to be watching Fox 10, I'd say that sounds like Dave Munsey, who will cover just about every city in the US that gets 2" of rain or more in a single storm.

 

[gr8oldies]

I think our locals do a good job, but I've seen them go over the top, especially one winter when there was a winter storm warning but not a flake had fallen..they went into wall-to-wall coverage "and now in Piqua, here's"" "Well Frank, nothing yet"..now to Springboro, "nothing here yet".!

 

[JeeperOne]

Hi everyone:

You should see what the Denver stations do for a typical weather segment (Mind you, this is in order)

1). They show you how nice (Or how HORRIBLE) it was today (Complete with temperatures, humidity and the whole nine yards)
2). They next show you a satellite image of some type showing what the weather was across the nation
3). They next show you a map showing you any cold fronts there are coming (And while doing so, they also make it a point to mention the one that passed us too)
4). They then go into the forecast (KMGH 7 ALWAYS shows you the forecast for THE FOLLOWING weekend EVEN ON THE WEEKEND BEFORE)
5). It is only then they show you the extended forecast

Really strange.

They're also quick to show off the various live cams as well.

Just the report from Denver.....

Cheers

 

[kyscott]

I think they ALL suck. They have too many toys and too many news directors give too many weather people free reign if there is the slightest hit of bad weather. A few years ago the CBS affiliate in Louisville had their helicopter storm chasing! I kid you not. There helicopter followed a storm cell to well outside the coverage area on the chance that a tornado would drop out of it. Our NBC affiliate has this stupid radar that allows them to see "inside" the storm. Very confusing. Show me a regular radar please, I know what yellow, red and purple means from there.
I have given up on these clowns around here. Being a private pilot, I know that forecasting the weather further than three days out is a crap shoot. Yet these idiots insist on doing two, three and four week forecasts. The Kentucky Derby is about two weeks away, yet one of the "forecasters" has already predicted rain and cold temperatures. Dumbasses.

 

[jsu5381m]

I think they ALL suck. They have too many toys and too many news directors give too many weather people free reign if there is the slightest hit of bad weather. A few years ago the CBS affiliate in Louisville had their helicopter storm chasing! I kid you not. There helicopter followed a storm cell to well outside the coverage area on the chance that a tornado would drop out of it. Our NBC affiliate has this stupid radar that allows them to see "inside" the storm. Very confusing. Show me a regular radar please, I know what yellow, red and purple means from there.
I have given up on these clowns around here. Being a private pilot, I know that forecasting the weather further than three days out is a crap shoot. Yet these idiots insist on doing two, three and four week forecasts. The Kentucky Derby is about two weeks away, yet one of the "forecasters" has already predicted rain and cold temperatures. Dumbasses.

You know, the helecopter operator from WHAS AM became famous for finding a tornado in his traffic helecopter doing afternoon traffic on April 3, 1974 Superoutbreak. He was credited for saving many lives that day.

 

[kyscott]

You know, the helecopter operator from WHAS AM became famous for finding a tornado in his traffic helecopter doing afternoon traffic on April 3, 1974 Superoutbreak. He was credited for saving many lives that day.

I'm not talking about Dick Gilberthttp://www.april31974.com/dick_gilbert_whas_april_3_1974.htm. He did an outstanding job covering the storms. I'm taking about the Newschannel 32 helicopter that followed a (read: ONE) storm cell damn near to Cincinnati four years ago. I don't know if he was hoping for another Super Outbreak or what. But I was stunned they were willing to burn that much jet fuel to follow a thundershower.

 

[jsu5381m]

Funny that Louisville actually has helecopters to chase storms. I didn't think that was possible since most tornadoes in the South are high precipitaiton supercells. It seems the only markets I know who chase storms with helecopters are Dallas, Oklahoma City and Denver because the land is flat and the cells have less precipitation to obscure the tornado.

 

[jsu5381m]

You know, the helecopter operator from WHAS AM became famous for finding a tornado in his traffic helecopter doing afternoon traffic on April 3, 1974 Superoutbreak. He was credited for saving many lives that day.

I'm not talking about Dick Gilberthttp://www.april31974.com/dick_gilbert_whas_april_3_1974.htm. He did an outstanding job covering the storms. I'm taking about the Newschannel 32 helicopter that followed a (read: ONE) storm cell damn near to Cincinnati four years ago. I don't know if he was hoping for another Super Outbreak or what. But I was stunned they were willing to burn that much jet fuel to follow a thundershower.

After reading the transcript, it seems they knew how to do a severe weather broadcast back then. Got the information out without scaring everyone but telling what they see (i.e. if they didn't see a tornado, they didn't see the tornado).

 

[KML0224]

Anybody have an idea how the stations handled the tornados in southeastern Virginia on Monday, April 28th?

 

[LRPackFan]

Have to give some props to WIS TV in Columbia, SC. They do an excellent job of severe weather coverage.