Don’t Tell Viewers a Weather Story. Do This Instead.

HellerWeather Blog Weather Message

Almost every news director I talk to tells me they want their weather team to tell better weather stories. I know what they mean. But telling a broadcast meteorologist to deliver a weather story can have the opposite effect. Because for broadcast meteorologists: the data is the story.

Just like mathematicians can see a story within equations, meteorologists see a story within the thermodynamics of the atmosphere. They understand and appreciate the complicated way the upper winds affect the movement of air closer to the ground and how the transfer of heat and moisture can produce an unstable environment, ripe for convective development that could cultivate violent vortices in one area while mixing with cold air to create snow squalls only a few hundred miles away. There’s beauty in this meteorological process. Still, it doesn’t necessarily help the average person who wants to know if it’s going to rain during their kid’s birthday party Saturday afternoon.


READ MORE: DIGITAL NOW INSTEAD OF DIGITAL FIRST


Here’s a better suggestion:

DELIVER THE MESSAGE

One of the Fundamentals of Effective Weather Communication is a clear, concise message. What do viewers want to know and need to know about the weather right now? Answer that one question, and you’ve figured out the essential message you need to deliver in every weather hit.

Viewers want to know certain weather information: Will it rain this weekend? How cold will it get tonight? We have to answer those questions, But we have to realize those questions can also be answered by looking at a weather app.

Identifying the weather information viewers need to know is how we differentiate our weather coverage from the competition, which includes every other TV station in the market and every weather app. And most of the time, viewers don’t know what they need to know. That’s our job!

Digital Weather StoryBefore stacking your weather hits or posting on social media, figure out The Essential Message you want to deliver. Edit the meteorology down into three or four statements. Summarize trends and highlight changes in the weather. Be specific. Include threats and impacts, timing and amounts. Write in conversational language, not meteorological terminology.

The Essential Message might be three of four different statements about the same storm system during significant weather events, like hurricanes and severe weather outbreaks. Other times, all three statements might be completely different.

Then, deliver the message. Produce your weathercasts, digital webcasts, and social media posts with graphics that deliver the message. Package the content to maximize the benefits of each platform. Don’t overproduce. And stay on message from the cross talk to the extended forecast.

QUALITY NOT QUANTITY

When you limit yourself to producing content around a few specific messages, it might feel like you’re leaving something out. You are. And that’s OK!

Research shows that the majority of viewers already know the forecast. Instead of covering everything, focus on the essential information viewers want and need to know about the weather right now. And realize that what they want and need to know might change ten minutes from now.

 


Tim Heller is an AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist, Talent Coach, and Weather Content Consultant. He helps local TV stations and broadcast meteorologists communicate more effectively on-air, online, and on social media.

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