Telling the weather story better with models and animations

An on-air weathercast is like any other story within the news. It should have a lead, supporting information and a conclusion.

The lead is your thesis. What it is you are going to talk about over the next 3 minutes. This can be done with a graphical billboard, weather headline, etc. This lets your viewers know the theme and the most important information you are about to pass along.

Supporting information. This is the body of your weathercast. Satellite, radar, temperature plots, MODEL DATA & ANIMATIONS and forecast maps all go into helping you tell and explain the "weather story."

Conclusion. This is the most important part of your presentation. It is your forecast. If you did your job correctly, you have set the forecast up so the viewers can not only understand what you are saying but remember it as well. There should be NO NEW information here. It should almost be a review, or a climax, to what you just said.

(The talk will include video highlights and examples to support the above outline.)

Sincerely,

Sam Scaman

Chief Meteorologist

KMSP-TV,9 NEWS

612-946-5729 (work)