I have been a broadcast meteorologist for a third of a century. This has given me a unique perspective on the profession. It used to mean that I worked in radio or television, but it has a completely different meaning today thanks to the internet and wireless communications.

It is not enough to be a good communicator and meteorologist. The job now demands skill at computers, both operating them and possibly programming them. Knowledge of the internet and computer graphics is imperative plus you should be able to multitask. The most important skill is to know your meteorology very well. At times you will have to analyze the weather situation on the fly and you will be dead wrong if you don’t know you stuff. Unfortunately, most broadcast meteorologists are unprepared for this.

This was driven home to me on Saturday, March 15, 2008. That is when a tornado outbreak occurred in South Carolina. Our coverage of the storms required that I analyze the storms live on-the-air as I was broadcasting to the viewers. My work and experiences in Oklahoma City and Wichita, KS, greatly prepare me for this challenge.

Shortly after the tornado outbreak I presented a paper at the Mini-technical Conference of the Palmetto Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. The abstract of my talk follows:

“The primary platforms for disseminating weather information have been television, radio, newspapers, and telephone for decades. However, technological innovations have changed this significantly and have created a number of opportunities and challenges. These changes have occurred essentially in this decade.

The rise of personal computers and the widespread adoption of the internet have opened a new avenue for broadcasting. Both television and newspapers are reinventing themselves to make full use of the opportunities of broadband. Newspapers are now learning to shoot video while television stations are broadcasting specifically to the internet. The environment for television is moving away from appointment television to television on demand.

Telecommunications changed rapidly in this decade. Bag phones advanced to cell phones which are now advancing to iphones with the capability for video. PDA’s have now advanced to Blackberries capable of video as well. Mobile technology has advanced to keep everyone in touch constantly.

Broadcast meteorologists face an array of platforms on which to deliver weather information. Telephone forecasts and information are now available with ease by anyone with a cell phone. Cell phones now include text message capabilities giving rise to textcasting. This gives the meteorologist the ability to push weather information to the consumer at any time.

The internet is opening an unlimited opportunity to provide weather information of the sort not available in traditional forms. It offers the speed of television, but the breath found in newspapers. Mobile internet makes the internet accessible anywhere and is now merging with cell phones with internet browsers.

Television is changing at an incredible pace driven by the internet, cable, satellite, and digital television. Traditional television will cease to exist on February 17, 2009. This is when television stations will cease to broadcast analog signals and broadcast only digital signals. Digital television is opening opportunities for local television stations by giving them more channels on which to broadcast. Many are taking the opportunity to devote one channel to continuously broadcasting weather information.

The challenge faced by broadcast meteorologists is to manage the flow of information on each platform and to disseminate severe weather information in a timely fashion. This will have to be accomplished with a minimum of staff and time which will make the computer platforms invaluable.”

I can not emphasize the last paragraph enough given the automation coming to television. It now appears that the broadcast meteorologist will also have to be able to operate a multitude of equipment. In the old days a director would say “lights, cameras, action.” Today the broadcast meteorologist will be operating the lights, the cameras, and the action.