severe weather 2014

Dual polarization, or dual-pol, radar is changing forecasting. With the dual-pol data, TV meteorologists can do things they couldn’t do before — distinguish among rain, snow and hail in a storm; analyze wind shear to determine where a tornado may appear and how it may move; determine the size and shape of rain drops that helps in predicting flash flooding; and “see” the tornadic debris signature that says that a funnel cloud has actually touched down. However, station forecasters need to get educated in how to accurately analyze and interpret this new data. This is the third part of TVN’s Severe Weather special report. You can read the other parts here.

The National Weather Service’s storm prediction specialist explains the state of severe weather predicting, where local news operations fit in and what’s needed to reduce hype and focus on information that saves lives. This is the second part of TVN’s Severe Weather special report. You can read the other parts here.

Many TV meteorologists have a big gripe with Facebook after being caught off-guard by a change in policy that hampers the reach of their vital weather alerts. According to the weathercasters, people who follow someone’s professional Facebook page don’t automatically get their posts in their newsfeeds, the way they would a friend’s. Instead, Facebook determines who gets what using a complex algorithm, essentially shutting most people out. Companies can pay to boost their reach, but even then, the broadcasters say, they still would reach very few of their followers.