I am a weather geek. You learn to appreciate weather growing up in the cornfields of the Midwest when your father teaches you to study the sky so you can judge how many innings of baseball you can play before the dark clouds on the horizon roll into town and the tornado sirens start blaring.
Weather TV is big business these days. And whether watching weather as hobby, entertainment, or because you genuinely need to know what’s coming, late summer TV often means tuning into hurricane coverage.
And like the Republicans and Democrats, vying for attention and votes in a two-party system, as America heads into hurricane season and a major hurricane heads for the gulf coast, there are two TV weather channels using different broadcast styles to try to attract viewers and share the critical information about Hurricane Laura.
Two different visions. Each with different goals and agendas. And each with different rising stars. They both have considerable strengths and notable weaknesses.
This week will be critical for each: scores of viewers may be looking to decide just what network will provide the best weather coverage when a natural disaster is looming.
The tried and true station more Americans tune to is The Weather Channel, but its had a rocky year. The Weather Channel’s coverage was widely ridiculed in early August right before Hurricane Isaias. Even when the science and computer models for the storm were hedging how strong it would be, The Weather Channel made the very unfortunate decision to hype up the storm as a monster, mega-storm. Once a few of the early models showed it could go all the way up the coast from Florida to Massachusetts, they created graphics that were alarming, noting “millions at risk” and for more than 24 hours kept the nickname “Covidcane 2020: Bracing for Disaster” on the screen with an imposing chyron in the corner.
Somehow labeling the hurricane “Covidcane” was almost on par with a “Sharknado” type branding that atempted to shock rather than present a balanced report—even though they are known for exaggeration. Not only did the storm fail to turn into a true “disaster” as predicted, but the nickname Covidcane was deeply unsettling and almost offensive to the national mood. Anyone who struggled with Covid or lost someone to Covid probably doesn’t appreciate the Weather Channel trying to capitalize with a tabloid-style nickname of “Covidcane.”
This follows previous scathing criticisms, like the September 2018 incident where The Weather Channel crew seemingly faked wind speed on air (the infamous footage of a Weather Channel on-air meteorologist standing almost sideways in the wind while a couple walked perfectly normal behind him). To be fair, TWC claims their meteorologist was exhausted and standing on rain-soaked ground while the couple was on a concrete sidewalk… but as Judge Judy might say, most of us found that explanation “ridiculous.”
After the “Covidcade” nickname disappeared following media criticism, TWC proceeded to provide adequate coverage as the storm brushed the mid-Atlantic, spinning up multiple tornadoes there, before causing hundreds of thousands of power people to lose power in the Northeast as it swept up into New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. By then it was just a weakening tropical storm, but because of its proximity to the populated sections of I-95, it still became a credible weather story. The mostly studio-based coverage on The Weather Channel was finally subdued and appropriate, although they spent all day suggesting even more tornadoes would form and seemed to dwell in the scare tactics that earlier generations of The Weather Channel’s on-air personalities would have been ashamed to see.
But a lot is on the line this time and for this storm, especially since we are expecting the tropical season to continue into a very active September and October.
So how will TWC cover Hurricane Laura? For The Weather Channel, credibility and tradition are on the line. The network has a team of meteorologists and their storm experts in Texas and Louisiana ready to report live to show conditions in the heart of the storm. So far, in the first few days of coverage—as the storm has approached the US—the in-studio coverage has been excellent. They have taken a measured, informative approach much more on-par with The Weather Channel of yesteryear. Instead of nicknames, exaggeration, and fear-mongering, the on-air meteorologists have focused on likely scenarios and credible tips for residents in harm’s way.
If there is a Walter Cronkite of Weather, it’s The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore. Whether a hurricane, flood, or Nor’easter, Cantore is there. The meteorologist joined TWC in 1986, and for more than the last decade seems to have been at every major storm that has hit the US. If a city is getting battered by a hurricane or buried by several feet of snow, Cantore is there. (He famously delights in “thunder snow,” a rare weather phenomena that usually occurs in only the heaviest of snowstorms.)
But Cantore won’t be alone in the rain and wind. The Weather Channel is set to deploy nearly a dozen meteorologists as field correspondents reporting on conditions throughout the region—most notably Stephanie Abrams, Paul Goodloe, Jordan Steele, Tevin Wooten, Felicia Coombs, Mike Seidel, Reynolds Wolf, Jen Carfagno, Chris Bruin, Chris Warren, and Justin Michaels. While Cantore is who viewers can “name” as the person they most recognize, Abrams should be considered equally strong. She’s a seasoned veteran of field reporting and anchoring and is someone the audience can both trust and learn from. TWC seems to know this, as Abrams and Cantore are both set to broadcast from the heart of the storm—Lake Charles, LA. The rest of the team will fan out from Galveston to Houston to Shreveport, although some of their exact locations may change depending on the storm’s track.
The Weather Channel’s studio “geek” of Hurricane coverage is Dr. Knabb. Knabb rejoined The Weather Channel after serving as the Director of the National Hurricane Center from 2012-2017. Knabb loves the science of the moment—he explains everything from what the hurricane hunter airplane data means to implications of hurricane pressure drops—in ways the audience can understand. To have a former director of the NHC as part of their coverage team is a great help.
So Cantore and Knabb—the experienced and lively at-the-scene meteorologist and the hurricane tracking know-it-all who is in-studio—will be helming the coverage while the nation watches. We should be in good hands.
While the majority of the country watches The Weather Channel, the less-watched Accuweather TV Channel offers viewers an alternative set of coverage. Available primarily to those with DirectTV and Verizon Fios Cable nationwide, Accuweather TV broadcasts from State College, Pennsylvania.
While Accuweather has many competent in-studio meteorologists, there is no one more accomplished than Bernie Rayno, the channel’s Chief Video Meteorologist and Senior Meteorologist. His insights about weather may be the best in the business—whether tracking a Nor’easter up the coast or talking about a potential for a severe storm outbreak, he understands the limits of computer models because he knows the intricacies of weather and truly does weather forecasting. He doesn’t read what the National Weather service says or follow what the GFS or European model say, he is a true old fashioned weather forecaster.
And he’s smarter than the computers that all of your local TV meteorologists tend to use for their nightly newscast weather. When he explains weather he’s using all of the combined knowledge of years of experience and knowledge. He credits his previous mentors who taught him all the tricks of the trade of how storms behave and what the computers sometimes fail to register.
Accuweather has limitations as a TV network. It clearly doesn’t have the same budget as The Weather Channel. It feels much more like the early days of The Weather Channel. What you won’t have are TWC’s insipid TV shows like “World’s Deadliest Storms” or “Top Ten Tornado Strikes.” You simply get weather. (For many fans of weather on television, this in itself is a plus). But Accuweather’s capabilities are limited. They won’t have the same quantity of field correspondents covering a hurricane or storm, but Rayno makes all the difference.
Here’s Accuweather’s other major advantage: from website to twitter presence to periscopes to podcasts, Rayno and Accuweather have a social media presence that allow viewers to get weather in unique and meaningful ways and extended digital platforms. If you don’t get the Accuweather TV channel you can still go to the website, download the app, and follow Rayno on twitter (@AccuRayno). This summer, Accuweather launched a “Local Hurricane Tracker” that offered hour by hour data about wind speed, rain totals, and the expected impact of hurricanes on cities in their path. It was by far more detailed (as weather website information goes) than the “local forecast” by zip code on The Weather Channel’s weather.com. So while Accuweather’s TV channel does have limitations, their ability to connect to a strong website and other social media certainly help give you another way to track weather and learn from it.
While this may be the first major hurricane of the season, the scary reality is it may not be the last. Yes, news networks and cable news organizations will be able to cover some of the story—but The Weather Channel and Accuweather TV are in unique positions to broadcast the story and immediate aftermath for those impacted by the storm and the rest of us watching. For those of us who watch sports, when a team is drafting, the commissioner warns “you’re on the clock.” As Hurricane Laura approaches Texas and Louisiana, viewers are counting on informed, nuanced weather coverage. Let’s hope these channels both deliver. Because they’re on the clock.
