Climate Science and the Broadcast Meteorologist

Abstract

in final form 11 may 2012 ©2012 american meteorological Society n eed for A WeAtherCAsters’ Workshop on ClimAte sCienCe. Despite the many and varied platforms from which individuals currently get weather information, local television weathercasters remain a trusted source because of their familiarity and proximity to viewers. A recent national survey found that 54% of Americans watch local television news for most of their weather information (Rasmussen Reports 2011). In addition, television weathercasters are increasingly viewed as station scientists, called on to provide information to their viewers on a wide variety of sciencerelated issues, including climate science and climate change (American Meteorological Society 2010). However, a significant percentage of television weathercasters hold views inconsistent with the scientific consensus about climate change (Wilson 2002, 2008, 2009). For example, 41% of American Meteorological Society (AMS) weathercasters surveyed indicated that their main obstacle to reporting on the topic was “too much uncertainty” in climate science (Wilson 2009, p. 1457), while 29% agreed with the statement (made by a well-known television weathercaster) that “global warming is a scam.” In addition, the unauthorized release of e-mails between climate scientists and the news coverage that followed (collectively known as “Climategate”) further eroded television weathercasters’ confidence in climate change science (Maibach et al. 2011). In short, when compared to the general population of atmospheric science professionals, television weathercasters are disproportionately wary of climate science and anthropogenic climate change. With this landscape in mind, the Department of Meteorology at The Pennsylvania State University hosted a workshop for broadcast meteorologists entitled “Understanding the Science of Climate Change.” The stated goal was to empower weathercasters by enhancing their ability to deliver climate science to their audiences while also building lines of communication between broadcasters and climate scientists. Weathercasters from 31 television stations were invited, representing all television markets in Pennsylvania as well as Youngstown and Steubenville, Ohio, and Elmira and Binghamton, New York.