RBW said:
I do not have access to CFTO, but if you do, I'd re-check that. Anytime that I HAVE seen them in recent years, I have no recollection of them giving Fahrenheit in their forecasts. The only time they might, is possibly at first when giving current conditions on screen. Nobody in Buffalo would have the need to watch their forecast...unless they were heading that way within 24 hrs.
CFTO did in fact have Fahrenheit readings on its extended forecast and current conditions screens (presented in that order) as recently as 2009. (Check out
these screenshots from 2003.) Fahrenheit was finally done away with last year, a few months after Dave Devall retired and Tom Brown took over. You're right, though, that the maps hadn't had Fahrenheit readings on them for at least quite a few years now.
Citytv Toronto does have one of the most detailed weather segments I can remember seeing on a Canadian station. Sometimes I find them a bit too carried away with the bells and whistles on their weather graphics... Michael Kuss and Adam Stiles sometimes even do "tag-team" weather, something I haven't really seen elsewhere on Canadian TV. In a way City's weather segments remind me the most of the ones I've seen on American stations.
landtuna said:
azumanga said:
Curiously, some Canadian stations use both Celsius and Fahrenheit, with Celsius being more predominantly-seen, of course, I know CFTO in Toronto and CFCF Montreal does this.
Must be so their American viewers south of the border can understand.
I interpret the continued inclusion of Fahrenheit on Canadian stations (well, the few left that still do so) as a holdover from the pre-metric days, for the benefit of the few Canadian viewers out there that still think in Fahrenheit, and/or as a personal preference of the station's weather presenter or producer (especially if they've been around for a while and can do as they please). Old habits die hard, as they say. (Even though the metric switch was, what, 30 years ago?) When Dave Devall's retirement was announced, I remember thinking that CFTO would probably finally drop Fahrenheit, and sure enough they did so after Tom Brown took over.
Not that many Americans watch Canadian local news, so I don't imagine this practice was intended for their benefit.
landtuna said:
Not having watched Canadian weather reporting in a very long time the only thing coming to my mind is the "weather personality" that permeates American TV.
That's basically the mode of operation at Global and CTV's Vancouver O&Os. Neither stations' chief weather presenters are meteorologist AFAIK. Before doing weather, Wayne Cox on Global BC (CHAN-TV) did radio shows and game shows (Acting Crazy anyone?), while Tamara Taggart on CTV BC (CIVT) was the feature reporter on the station's morning show (think City Toronto's Jennifer Valentyne or KTLA's Gayle Anderson), and they're essentially in their positions more for their personality than for any actual weather credentials. Not meant as a knock against them, but just sayin'. Citytv Vancouver (CKVU) was basically doing the same thing back when they still had evening newscasts.
Global BC does have 2 meteorologists, Mark Madryga and Kristi Gordon (Madryga's even billed as "senior meteorologist" on the station's website), but they do the weekday morning and weekend shows respectively. CBC Vancouver (CBUT) has Clare Martin, also a met.
While Citytv Toronto has 2 mets (the aforementioned Kuss and Stiles), the morning weather is done by Frank Ferragine, probably better known as Frankie Flowers the gardening dude.
This may partly explain the brevity of Canadian weather segments compared to the ones in the States. While a competent TV presenter with average or higher intelligence can probably master the basics of meteorology/weather forecasting after a few years and know how to interpret and present the data from Environment Canada, you still can't count on them to do higher-level analysis. They can get away with doing 1min30-2min worth of current conditions, sat/rad, tomorrow's highs and the 7-day, but much more beyond that will only expose their weakness.
