EMS Lecture: Talking about weather and climate in Europe (Invited Presentation)

Modern society is becoming increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events. The meteorological services are making great efforts to develop better weather forecasts and issue alerts in case of expected high impact weather. In spite of rapid development of new means of communication the most effective ways to communicate weather information still remain TV and radio. This is especially true in case of severe weather.

How is weather information communicated on television in Europe? On the one hand, TV weather forecast has to be visually appealing to viewers, but also reliability is required. As a rule, the weather forecast is separated from the core news, it has its aviso at the beginning and end. Weather forecasts are among the most watched programs and for TV channels also an opportunity to sell the most expensive commercial time just before and after the weather forecast.

Due to the limited amount of time TV companies devote to weather information, it is necessary to carefully select the information. One up to three minutes is the most common timeframe for TV weather forecasts in Europe. Weather forecast is a regular part of all news, usually placed at the end. It is more and more common practice to have shorter forecasts distributed during the day, and a couple of more comprehensive ones in the prime time, when they are sometimes placed also before the main reports.

In Europe, we do not have the certification scheme you have in the USA, in some countries certification programs exist, but they are not intended exclusively for TV weather forecasters. There is a variety in the approach of TV companies. Some have recruited professional meteorologists who also appear on in front of the camera, while others opt for good moderators with content from professional meteorologists hidden to the viewers. As a rule, the viewer does not have information about who is a professional weatherperson and who is just presenting weather forecasts. As consequence we do not distinguish between weather “broadcaster” and “presenter”.

Within the European meteorological society we have two Media awards dedicated to weather broadcasters. One is presented for a long outstanding career in the media and is presented biannually, the second is presented at each annual meeting for the best TV weather forecast. In this way we collect examples of good practice to be shared among our community. The Media and communication session is a forum where meteorologist working in the media can network and exchange experience.

We are encouraged to link climate data and climate change where appropriate to the weather forecast. Of course, we do not do this daily, but only when it makes sense. In the case of high impact weather, the meteorologist is also invited for interview in main news program, but reporting from the field is usually in the domain of professional journalists.

Of course, Europe is very diverse, and this is also reflected in the diversity of how weather forecasts dealt with. A few decades ago, we have seen some attempts to transform TV weather forecasts to be also entertaining, the trend is different now. Reliability and credibility are becoming increasingly important, and this depends a lot on the personality.