Knowledge is Power

Do you know when the severe weather season is for your DMA. Do you know when you should be forecasting snow, strong winds, thunderstorms, hail, or other “news making” events. Can you forecast the occurrence of 100-degree weather with a high degree of confidence? Can you forecast single digit temperatures or even below zero temperatures with a high degree of confidence?

Over the years, I have been keeping track of many weather parameters, such as the daily high and low, precipitation and weather, but I have taken it to the next level by also keeping track of severe weather parameters and upper level weather parameters. With these records, I have been able to determine trigger levels for my viewing area that signal the possible occurrence of events during the current broadcast day, or within the next 24-48 hours. The key here is that those triggers may be very different for you than they are for other areas of the country, or from the “Standards” in forecasting.

Find out how you could begin understanding the weather in your viewing area. Learn how to set those trigger points in a way that will be obvious to your during the building of your daily forecast. Find out how to keep track of your success in forecasting temperatures. Learn how to keep yourself disciplined in your forecasting and not take your viewers on a roller-coaster ride from one broadcast to the next.

In our business, it is important to be as accurate as possible, but it is also important to be in tune with your news staff and give them as much lead-time when you think weather is going to be a “news making” event. Following a disciplined regime each day can give you that lead time and increase the trust of your news management, and even more important, your viewers in your role as a broadcast meteorologist.