Weather's Future

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WEATHER’S FUTURE: ACCURATE, TIMELY, PERSONALIZED The smartest technologies on the market bundle next-gen technology with personalized notifications that tap into viewers’ deep, ongoing connection to local weather information.

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HOW WEATHER TECHNOLOGIES HELP BROADCASTERS DO THEIR JOBS BETTER

mart GMs, news directors, and reflectivity and velocity; they provide meteorologists deeper station meteorologists know the access to data like spectrum width and differential reflectivity S status quo no longer flies when and offer next-level reach for cross-platform sponsorship and it comes to providing local weather channel branding. coverage. Perhaps most importantly, the technology ensures that Today’s viewers demand more broadcasters meet one of their core objectives: to serve the public personalization when it comes to interest. This has been the case for KOKI-TV, a Fox-affiliated station weather news. Which blocks in San in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that has used The Weather Company technology Francisco’s Twin Peak district will be to inform viewers and keep track of tornados threatening viewers in shrouded by fog at 5 a.m.? How many nearby counties. streets on Chicago’s Northside will be This ebook, which is a collaboration between NewBay Media pelted with sleet due to the lake effect of Lake Michigan? and The Weather Company, explores the different ways in which Those microclimate details are the details that matter. weather technologies are helping broadcasters do their jobs better And now this customized, detailed data that’s uniquely suited by delivering compelling content, targeted and relevant information, to a certain geographic area must be massaged for distinctive and personalized cross-screen weather coverage to viewers. Read on media platforms—be it a digital alert warning of an impending to learn more. thunderstorm, a social media update on an imminent rain shower, or a drive-time forecast scheduled for a 6 a.m. TV broadcast. Louis Hillelson What technology is best suited for communicating these kinds of Vice President/Group Publisher announcements? Platforms that recognize that, even though some Broadcasting & Cable things change, others stay the same: Even though the devices in our Multichannel News hands and homes have evolved, our deep connection to what’s local Next TV hasn’t changed—particularly when it comes to weather. Ratings Intelligence The best offerings on the market pool best-of-breed weather [email protected] prediction technology and easy-to-deploy platforms that offer multiple-device delivery capability. A platform must know a neighborhood inside and out and provide users with weather data that’s accurate, timely, and personalized. CONTENTS One company meeting that challenge is The Weather Company, an IBM Business. It is the world’s largest private weather enterprise, 3 Forget the Five-Day—Today’s Weather with well-known divisions such as The Weather Channel and Weather Has to Be Up to the Second Underground, delivering billions of forecasts every day to consumers and businesses. The company’s new solutions link proprietary local 7 The Value of Weather Radar Ownership radar data and 3D radar visualizations to keep up with viewers’ preferences in accessing weather information on a daily basis. 8 Video: The Power of Live Radar For example, the company’s Max Engage is a hyper-local mobile experience that offers a unique way of alerting viewers 9 Adapting Weathercasts for Digital Media to the type and potential impact of incoming weather. Two next- generation radar technologies, Defender and Ranger, are the result 10 Video: Max Engage: Weather Information of a partnership between The Weather Company and Enterprise Electronics Corporation. These solutions offer stations accurate, Looking For You timely, and personalized weather data through a long-range radar able to track multiple fronts in a given area or by using a portable 11 How To Personalize Your Weather radar system for short- to medium-range weather detection. Forecasts in Max Engage These technologies offer more than standard metrics like

2 WEATHER’S FUTURE: ACCURATE, TIMELY, PERSONALIZED SpecialReport: Forecast/The Business of Weather Forget the Five-Day— Today’s Weather Has to Be Up to the Second Digital and social tools arm forecasters with a wealth of information, but also quicken the pace of evolution By Diana Marszalek [email protected] | @DKmarszalek

WBZ Boston's Eric Fisher reports from the field when viewers really need to see what the conditions outside are like. For Fisher, tracking storms can be a 24-hour event.

WHEN BAD WEATHER’S brewing near Boston, Eric Fisher, CBS O&O WBZ’s Tegna’s NBC affiliate in Minneapolis, is on chief meteorologist, hunkers down at home long after his late-night newscast, the job from the moment she wakes up. She analyzes radar feeds and pushes out fore- poring over weather models so the platforms to strike up re- casts across platforms, all with precision and he can duly warn viewers of WHY THIS lationships with viewers about consistency consumers can’t get from apps. looming storms. MATTERS five years ago. Even now, Del- “I yearn for some slow days,” says Jensen, Roughly 1,400 miles south, Climate change and legatto is wired seven days a a 25-year industry vet who fondly remembers in Tampa, Fla., Paul Dellegatto, societal shifts mean more week, even while on vacation, having the luxury of time in creating and de- the chief meteorologist at Fox consumers hungering for and responds to every viewer livering forecasts. “The bottom line is, people timely predictions. The O&O WTVT, daily feeds social pace is exhausting, but communication he receives. want immediate gratification with everything media at the same furious pace can yield a strong bond Meanwhile, Belinda Jensen, in the world including the weather forecast.” as when he first started using with viewers. chief meteorologist at KARE, Those kinds of round-the-clock days are,

3 WEATHER’S FUTURE: ACCURATE, TIMELY, PERSONALIZED for the most part, now the norm for local In addition, a rising number of people are TV meteorologists, whose jobs are infinitely “I’m not sure how it’s going to moving to places prone to severe weather, more complex, and more consuming, than compounding the problem, local broadcast- they were for their rip-and-read predeces- evolve in a year or two, but, ers say. Places like Houston, which floods; sors. Whereas early TV weathercasters were for now, this instant interac- South Florida, which gets lightning strikes prized for sunny dispositions, TV stations tion is certainly going to be a and hurricanes; and the middle part of the today put a premium on hiring degreed sci- big part of what we do.” country known as Tornado Alley are seeing entists who have expertise in synthesizing spikes in populations, they say. —Paul Dellegatto, WTVT complex meteorological information, as well “There are more people in harm’s way,” as a knack for communicating it in a way Morales says. that laypeople understand. In turn, TV meteorologists have long been “Our jobs have evolved considerably be- years the number of tornados that hit the ahead of the curve leveraging platforms like cause of all the things we are expected to market has risen from one every couple of social media, and today remain among cy- do to keep the public informed,” says John years to as many as three annually. berspace’s most engaged, innovative TV per- Morales, chief meteorologist at NBC O&O sonalities. Having plunged into digital me- WTVJ Miami. “That’s just the nature of the dia at an early stage, weathercasters today beast these days.” oversee a range of off-air initiatives, most of That evolution, which has sped up con- which they created and sustain themselves. siderably over the last decade, has been Many of their elaborate ventures are built driven by a range of factors affecting the on offering real-time, interactive weather cov- local broadcast industry and beyond. erage that can’t always be done on linear TV. On one hand, TV meteorologists are hav- They include, for example, the video call-in ing to expand the breadth of their work in show that Denis Phillips, the chief meteorolo- response to larger challenges facing all of lo- gist at Scripps’ ABC affiliate WFTS in Tampa, cal TV, ranging from stiff digital competition streams online; covering a lightning storm for to a 24-hour news cycle. 188,000 people using Facebook Live, which But the urgency of doing their jobs with Dellegatto did in July; and building vibrant precision, which includes keeping people online communities by maximizing social safe, has also become more acute. Weath- media. Mark Johnson, chief meteorologist at ercasters say that climate change has raised WEWS, Scripps’ ABC affiliate in Cleveland, the stakes, as severe weather is more com- Ohio has 140,000 followers. mon than it used to be. “I’m not sure how it’s going to evolve in Jerry Taft, chief meteorologist at ABC KARE Minneapolis' Belinda Jensen feeds forecasts on platforms a year or two but, for now, this instant inter- O&O WLS Chicago, says over the last seven from TV to social to keep up with viewers' demands. action is certainly going to be a big part of

LOCAL TV’S PETE DELKUS, CHIEF PAUL DELLEGATTO, ERIC FISHER, CHIEF METEOROLOGIST, WFAA CHIEF METEOROLOGIST, WTVT METEOROLOGIST, WBZ BOSTON WEATHER DALLAS (TEGNA, ABC) TAMPA, FLA. (FOX O&O) (CBS O&O) WHIZZES Delkus designs Dellegatto is the Fisher is a pretty Using a mix of ratings, his weather longest-tenured affable guy reports so that chief meteorol- on-air. But he’s awards and social media viewers under- ogist in Tampa a self-described metrics, B&C selected a stand what the television. He was “psycho” when it cross-section of meteorolo- information he the first meteo- comes to work, gists spread out across the is providing means to them as rologist in the country to show which starts with checking top 25 DMAs who deserve a they go about their daily rou- the various spaghetti models computer models upon waking tip of the umbrella. Here is a tines. He tries to avoid getting that illustrate the complexity of up. “Anyone who pops into the look at the 2016 major- bogged down with jargon while tracking tropical systems. weather office during forecast striving to provide viewers with and prep time knows I’m not market Weather Whizzes, a deeper understanding of why particularly friendly at that along with their station’s weather events occur. time,” he says. ownership and affiliation:

4 WEATHER’S FUTURE: ACCURATE, TIMELY, PERSONALIZED what we do,” Dellegatto says. “This is the pertise, says that during most of his 32 years bonded equipment. kind of stuff that plays a big role in how we at the station he didn’t see any reason to have After a snowstorm several years ago, reach consumers and customers.” station radar. That requires a seven-figure in- WCBS broadcast from an earlier version of It also helps that, as scientists who rely on vestment in the equipment, land to put it on, the van while out driving with Brooklyn’s things like radar feeds and computer models, and government approvals. “For years and borough president, airing pictures of streets meteorologists tend to be tech-savvy, so much years I was on the other side of the fence,” he that had yet to be plowed. so that they already have figured out what says. “I didn’t see reason to take the big bite.” Peter Dunn, CBS Television Stations pres- does and doesn’t work in reaching viewers. Now that the market is experiencing more ident, says investing in that kind of equip- Several years ago, for instance, weather- severe weather, however, National Weather ment is a reflection of local TV’s commit- casters were already begging off Facebook, Service data feeds no longer cut it, Taft says. ment to covering weather—as well as the long the darling of local broadcasters. They NWS information is already four to six min- medium’s dominance in doing so. realized that legions of followers weren’t utes old by the time WLS receives it, not an “No one has local down to the neighbor- getting critical weather warnings because acceptable lag in dangerous conditions. hoods like we do. And we save lives,” Dunn the platform’s algorithms filtered such posts “If you are putting data on the air that’s says. “We look at it as a responsibility.” out of their news feeds. four minutes old, a storm moving 60 miles Affiliates are making the most of such “Facebook is still a huge venue but you per hour would be four miles away from investments by playing up weather more can’t get people on it to see something right what you showed viewers on screen,” Taft so than in the past. Morales, for instance, away,” Fisher says. says. “If you are showing the whole area, says he breaks into regular programming far TV stations are also taking weather up a that’s good enough. But the more you are more than he used to, as well as simultane- notch by giving it greater play in newscasts zooming in, the more you show how wrong ously working the Web and social media to as well as investing in next-gen technology. you could be. … You just want to know warn viewers of severe weather. After decades of relying on data from the where the hell it is.” Last winter, during which South Florida National Weather Service, WLS earlier this The CBS O&Os also continue to upgrade saw a spike in tornadoes due to El Niño year became the first in the market to have their weather equipment. patterns, WTVJ started issuing weather its own Doppler 7 Max. The state-of-the-art Flagship WCBS in New York this summer alerts even before storms neared the area. radar system, like its predecessors, is able to will debut an updated version of the mobile “We have paradigms set up in better ways detect storms. But it is also able to detect the weather vans used by stations across the group. to make people aware that the weather storms behind the storms. The imposing vehicle—an industrial-size might be dangerous that day,” Morales says. The latest radar also has the power to offer Chevy Suburban decked out with flashing Certainly, weathercasters have a vested particulars like, say, the difference between lights and graphics—is tricked out for weath- interest in hitting these marks, especially small and large raindrops, and whether the ercasters to report from the road even under keeping the public safe. As one of the rea- debris caught up in a storm is indicative of a the toughest conditions. It has five mounted sons viewers tune in to their local station, tornado or heavy rain. cameras, a full array of weather sensors, and meteorologists are among local TV’s most Taft, a former Air Force pilot with radar ex- can transmit signals using satellite or cellular visible (and highly paid) personalities.

IRV GIKOFSKY, CHIEF JOHN MORALES, CHIEF MIKE NELSON, CHIEF BRAD PANOVICH, CHIEF WEATHER EXPERT, WPIX METEOROLOGIST, WTVJ MIAMI METEOROLOGIST, KMGH METEOROLOGIST, WCNC NEW YORK (TRIBUNE, CW) (NBC O&O) DENVER (E.W. SCRIPPS, ABC) CHARLOTTE (TEGNA, NBC) A former school- Having worked In the 1970s and The consummate teacher, Gikofsky in Spanish- and ’80s, Nelson weatherman, created the New English-language helped pioneer Panovich says York City school TV, Morales was weather systems he’s passionate system’s first the first Hispanic for early comput- about the weath- computerized broadcaster to ers, including the er, and keeping weather programs for kids to substitute as meteorologist on Apple IIc, the first attempt at people apprised of what’s use. Known on-air as “Mr. G,” the weekend edition of NBC’s an affordable computer display afoot, especially when weather Gikofsky has visited more than Today show, which he did multiple for broadcast meteorology. can truly impact their lives. “I 500 schools, many in lower times while working at Telemundo Since then, he has installed love this stuff and have since income districts, as a motiva- WSCV Miami. He is one of very systems at dozens of TV I was six years old,” he says. tional speaker. few broadcast meteorologists stations and trained big-name “So I live, breathe and sleep elected to be a Fellow of the personalities such as NBC’s weather.” American Meteorological Society. Al Roker.

LOCAL TV'S WEATHER WHIZZES (CONTINUED)

5 WEATHER’S FUTURE: ACCURATE, TIMELY, PERSONALIZED There are perks that come with still being the go-to source for local weather. But they are no longer sacrosanct, either, no matter how aggressively they engage with their communities. The plethora of weather apps, and consumers’ propensity for checking forecasts up to eight times a day, puts broadcasters at serious risk of being eclipsed by computers. “Our next battle is going to be showing the value of a human forecast and what we can add,” Fisher says. “If we can’t make the case for that, we’ll all be in trouble.” Yet even TV’s most proficient weathercasters are constricted by certain human factors, such as the periodic need for sleep. “The science is so much better than when I started but there is still a limit to what we can do,” Jensen says. “So when our bosses, and our bosses’ bosses, and the viewers After 32 years at WLS Chicago, Jerry Kraft (above) was a proponent of the station buying its own keep demanding more and more, it can be Doppler 7 Max radar (right) to keep people safe when very challenging for a scientist working in a severe weather hits. Kraft is reporting far more newsroom.” tornadoes than he has in the past. She adds, “There is no way to not always be in a rush.” lieves the human touch TV meteorologists Regardless, weathercasters say they are bring to forecasting will prevail in keeping relatively optimistic about their profes- viewers warm, dry and safe from the forces sion’s future. of Mother Nature. “We bank on when the day is done, con- “My non-alarmist style has always been no sumers will come to a meteorologist, a web- hype, giving viewers just the facts and keep- site, a TV station they have watched for 25 ing people calm through the threat,” he says. years to get confirmation of what they have “There’s no need to panic,” he says. But been looking at all day,” Jensen says. we do need to be prepared and be ready WLS’ Taft also has hope, saying he be- with the aim of saving lives.”

DALLAS RAINES, CHIEF ANDREA ROMERO, CHIEF TOM SKILLING, CHIEF AMBER SULLINS, CHIEF METEOROLOGIST, WABC METEOROLOGIST, WNJU NEW YORK METEOROLOGIST, WGN CHICAGO METEOROLOGIST, KNXV PHOENIX LOS ANGELES (ABC O&O) (TELEMUNDO O&O) (TRIBUNE, INDEPENDENT) (E.W. SCRIPPS, ABC) Raines is known Romero leverag- Legend has it One of the for some of his es a multitude that, after 38 relatively few signature moves of tools, from years at WGN, female Big Four during forecasts— WNJU’s app to Skilling can affiliate chief the crouch, the Facebook Live, influence the meteorologists, swing and the to keep Span- grain markets Sullins has spent pump among them. But he ish-speakers up to date on the with his forecasts. In April, the last three years focusing takes weather seriously, too. weather. The bilingual meteo- Skilling hosted his 36th annual on covering climate change, Raines (his real name) attend- rologist was one of the coun- Tornado and Severe Storm and its impact on Arizonans. ed a debate on global warming try’s first Hispanic women to Seminar at the research center With help from Climate Central, in the Clinton White House. He obtain seals of approval from Fermilab. He also hand-draws Sullins uses graphics on-air has also worked as a college both the National Weather weather maps that are the and on social media to help meteorology professor. Association and the American basis for the ones that appear viewers better understand Meteorological Society. in the Chicago Tribune. climate science.

LOCAL TV'S WEATHER WHIZZES (CONTINUED)

6 WEATHER’S FUTURE: ACCURATE, TIMELY, PERSONALIZED THE VALUE OF WEATHER RADAR OWNERSHIP

Information gleaned from next-gen radar data helps news stations put more accurate weather info into the hands of their audiences, and to do so more frequently.

By Don Morelli

Today’s viewers expect personalized weather data to be delivered on all devices seamlessly.

uring severe weather, viewers turn to trusted experts on lo- your exact specifications and offer an unmatched level of end- cal television for the critical information they need to stay to-end support. This translates to huge savings in terms of in- D safe. When you’re in the business of saving lives, minutes stallation and maintenance. And because of this 100 percent count. So you can’t afford a conflict between getting to air first, and hands-on knowledge, we’re continually innovating new compo- getting to air right. nents—such as our IQ2 Processor, one of the most advanced ra- Now you can empower your experts with groundbreaking control dar processors on the market. With our expert training and contin- over the story—faster and more accurately than ever before. Working uous support, you not only gain a competitive edge, you keep it. exclusively with The Weather Company, an IBM Business, EEC offers Defender and Ranger, state-of-the-art, near real-time Doppler weath- Control in the Palm of Your Hand er radar solutions that work seamlessly with the Max Ecosystem. Having your own radar allows your news team to get more fre- quent, immediate, and resolute data—up to 2.5 minutes quick- EEC Radar: The End-to-End Difference er than The National Weather Service (NWS). With the powerful For more than 45 years, EEC has designed, manufactured, and combination of EEC Radar and Max Storm, you can take control maintained radars right here in the USA, from the ground up. of the radar, sweep and investigate, zero in on sections of storms, Our turnkey process allows us to configure your system to and analyze parameters that indicate life-threatening conditions.

WEATHER’S FUTURE: ACCURATE, TIMELY, PERSONALIZED 7 WEATHER’S FUTURE: ACCURATE, TIMELY, PERSONALIZED Show your viewers just how far away moving, but you also get to see exactly the storm is—in near real-time—with how it’s developing—well before it be- an interactive distance tool. Or high- The Defender and Ranger radar comes life threatening. light a projected path that automati- systems give stations accurate, Our Defender C and S-Band mod- cally lists not only cities, towns, and els are available with either EEC’s locations in the path, but also gives timely, and personalized weather industry-standard single-polarization the estimated time the storm will data. Defender’s long-range radar or with ournew, highly advanced du- hit. And then immediately distribute tracks multiple fronts in a given al-polarization system that’s years that information across all platforms, ahead of anything else on the mar- through Max Engage and Max Prism. area, while Ranger is a portable ket. For big performance without a With Max Connect, all this power is radar system for short-to-medium big price tag, the completely por- controlled easily via an iPad, main- table Ranger X-Band comes with taining that important connection range weather detection. dual-pol built right in. The Ranger to viewers. It’s a dazzling difference radars are ideal for “gap filling” by your audience will notice—and so will providing data in areas where NWS your sponsors. In fact, EEC radars of- Doppler radar doesn’t have good, ten end up paying for themselves through sponsorships alone. low-level coverage. For instance, KLTV in Tyler, Texas used their Ranger radar to instantly detect the Van, Texas EF3 tornado— The Game-Changing Power of Dual Pol Technology while the NWS radar’s beam was shooting over the circulation. Over 15 years ago, EEC pioneered dual-polarity radar. With both KLTV then followed and tracked the tornado through the en- horizontal and vertical beams for double the resolution, a precise tire event, warning everyone in its path and especially those 3-D look at precipitation is now possible, second by second, through- viewers in Van. Without KLTV’s Ranger radar, there’s no telling out the storm. So you not only get to see exactly how the storm is how many additional injuries or deaths would have occurred.