What is the job of a television meteorologist?

The Magic of TV! Photo Courtesy Chris Meydrich

I’ll get to the picture in just a second. But, first, the job of a TV weather person depends on where you work. Some stations don’t even require that you are a meteorologist. They just want you to be able to communicate the weather forecast in a way that’s easy to understand, so the public knows what the weather will be like when they walk out the door. While the National Weather Service is the government agency in charge of forecasting the weather and issuing warnings when your life or property is threatened, they communicate those warnings through television stations. In places like New Orleans, most television stations require the weather person to have a degree in meteorology. Severe weather, in the form of flash flooding, damaging winds, or hail, can develop rapidly along the Gulf South. When I’m looking at a developing storm on radar, I have the ability to determine whether it has certain features that indicate the possibility of damaging winds, or even a tornado. Because weather conditions change so rapidly, TV weather people often stay up all night watching the weather, in case a thunderstorm becomes severe. (A yoga mat on the floor is very comfortable during an all-nighter.) The other fact that people are surprised about is that we make up our own forecasts. That’s why every station has a different forecast. We check the global computer models four times a day, and adjust our forecasts with the changing weather conditions (what’s going on outside), and what the computer models are showing us as well. It’s up to the experience of the individual meteorologist to look at the developing weather outside as well as use the most accurate computer model to produce the forecast. That’s a lot of mumbo jumbo to say it’s a takes a lot of work and experience to make a daily forecast, and it’s a new challenge every day. (My next blog answers the question: What is a computer weather model, and how do forecasters use them?) Most television meteorologists make their own computer graphics, put on their own makeup, choose their own clothes, and then go on TV! (Not as glamorous as it looks to most people I guess.)

Okay… so to the “green screen”! In the picture above, I am standing in front of the weather wall, (probably putting on my microphone.) When we are giving our forecasts, the screen in back of us is green. Through the magic of TV, the maps of the United States are made to look like they are on the wall behind us, even though they are just projected onto your television set, with the meteorologist in front. When it looks like we are turning toward the wall and pointing, we are actually looking at television monitors on each side of us, and in front of us. Stay tuned for more insider weather info… until next time!