Article by Eric Worrell
“…What most people want to know is, will it be hot?…”
'You don't want to waste time on climate change': TV weather is big issue in environmental crisis
Stuart Jeffries Saturday 26 October 2024 01:00 AEDT
Lack of time, difficulty with scientific rigor, public disinterest…TV meteorologists speak out about why they are so silent about the causes of extreme conditions
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Met Office forecaster and presenter Alex Burkill disagrees that climate denialism is prevalent among meteorologists. “I think there are two reasons why we don't do it more often. One is scheduling. We don't always have a ton of time to talk, especially on TV. If you're going to discuss important weather, you really don't want to waste time talking about it. Climate change. You would rather get the information the public needs to keep them safe.
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Andrew Charlton-Perez, professor of meteorology at the University of Reading and several of his students who have gone on to become weather forecasters, said it was difficult to strike the right balance. “It's a bit like a Trojan horse. If you can, you squeeze in some meteorology to explain something, but really what most people want to know is, is it going to be hot?
The second reason cited by Burkill is even more surprising. He said it would be difficult to prove with scientific rigor that looming extreme weather is definitely caused by the climate crisis. “We always have high temperatures, we always have low temperatures, we always have heavy rains, we always have strong winds,” he said. “Clearly climate change is making extreme heat and rainfall more common, which is most likely attributable to climate change, but it's difficult to prove this.”
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Learn more: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/oct/25/tv-weather-climate-crisis
These responses, of course, refer to weather forecasters polluting the weather portion of their television news with climate rhetoric. Anthony is a meteorologist and his WUWT website is very popular.
Why is it okay to discuss climate change on a site like WUWT, but not in the weather section?
I believe the answer is that when people look at the weather forecast, they just want to know about the weather.
When people have the time and inclination, they will choose to visit a website like WUWT.
Access to the website is voluntary.
Being forced to swallow a barrage of climate propaganda when you're rushing to get the kids to school and trying to figure out whether they need warm clothes is a misuse of people's precious time.
In my opinion, the Greens forcing weathermen to abuse their audience's patience by conflating weather forecasts with climate propaganda is a sign of desperation and a sign that they are losing their audience.
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