Huntsville weathercasters (Birmingham, Cullman: how much, tornadoes, costs)

[harry chickpea]

I try to watch at least one or two weathercasts to stay informed on weather potentials. Until she recently retired, the WAAY weathercaster was top of my list. Calm and reserved and factual, very professional. That has changed radically with the change of guard. Yesterday, the smiling weathercaster there was downplaying Tuesday while national news was showing it as a problem and Michael Robinson has been indicating some concerning development. Today she was doing a puff piece on how much wind it takes to blow a patio chair off your deck.

The main weathercaster on WAAY has finally crossed my level of tolerance. When you have a futurecast radar that costs thousands of dollars to set up, only an blithering IDIOT uses the hand remote to fast forward through it while yammering. I have tivo and can do slow motion, and have had to use it before with her, but with the concern about where and when tomorrow for storms, her predilection for focus on herself rather than events has just put me into the "fire her for complete incompetence" camp.

Jessica C seems to be the newcomer with greatest potential. Time for me to switch for at least that segment of news before I start tossing stuff at the screen.

[RocketDawg]

Locally, I don't think there'll be weather that's all that severe (famous last words). So if she was just talking about our area, she could well be right. The Mississippi delta is a different story altogether.

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

I try to watch at least one or two weathercasts to stay informed on weather potentials. Until she recently retired, the WAAY weathercaster was top of my list. Calm and reserved and factual, very professional. That has changed radically with the change of guard. Yesterday, the smiling weathercaster there was downplaying Tuesday while national news was showing it as a problem and Michael Robinson has been indicating some concerning development. Today she was doing a puff piece on how much wind it takes to blow a patio chair off your deck.

The main weathercaster on WAAY has finally crossed my level of tolerance. When you have a futurecast radar that costs thousands of dollars to set up, only an blithering IDIOT uses the hand remote to fast forward through it while yammering. I have tivo and can do slow motion, and have had to use it before with her, but with the concern about where and when tomorrow for storms, her predilection for focus on herself rather than events has just put me into the "fire her for complete incompetence" camp.

Jessica C seems to be the newcomer with greatest potential. Time for me to switch for at least that segment of news before I start tossing stuff at the screen.

Jessica is very good, the rest on 19 is just self promotion.
Just stick with the best Brad Travis and 48. If and when crunch time comes he’s earned his stripes over 20 years. In Huntsville.
Remember also the Huntsville coverage extends from Mississippi to Georgia, Southern Tennessee, and south to Cullman, so what may not impact us locally good be deadly west of us especially.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

Jessica is very good, the rest on 19 is just self promotion.
Just stick with the best Brad Travis and 48. If and when crunch time comes he’s earned his stripes over 20 years. In Huntsville.
Remember also the Huntsville coverage extends from Mississippi to Georgia, Southern Tennessee, and south to Cullman, so what may not impact us locally good be deadly west of us especially.

There was something a few years back that Brad did (outside the station) that turned me off to him, and it takes time for me to rebuild trust. I will revisit though. I did see Jason has gone back to B'ham and is about to be the major on one station.

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

There was something a few years back that Brad did (outside the station) that turned me off to him, and it takes time for me to rebuild trust. I will revisit though. I did see Jason has gone back to B'ham and is about to be the major on one station.

Any station that claims to be authority is fake and looking for false accolades.
Just report the facts without claiming some grandiose marketing slogan that’s a lie and really can’t be taken seriously. Authority? What they have some supernatural power over the weather? Usually wrong as well.

[tn_native]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

Any station that claims to be authority is fake and looking for false accolades.
Just report the facts without claiming some grandiose marketing slogan that’s a lie and really can’t be taken seriously. Authority? What they have some supernatural power over the weather? Usually wrong as well.

IMO they lost that 'Authority' when Jason Simpson walked out the door. He's in Birmingham now and will be the chief meteorologist when Jerry Tracey retires on WVTM.

I still follow him on twitter (simpsonWVTM13).


To my knowledge WAAY hasn't named a replacement for chief since Kate McKenna left, as their "team" only shows Carson Meredith and Grace Anello as meteorologists.

[GreggT]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

Jessica is very good, the rest on 19 is just self promotion.

Well she lost my confidence when she first came on 19. We had a large front come through bringing storms and numerous tornados. When her time was up, she left the air and I guess, went on to bed. She really took a lot of heat over that and she tried to defend herself against the indefensible which just made her look more ridiculous.
She has done better after that but you know the old saying "once burned"!

[dijkstra]

They mostly just pick one of the computer models and roll with it. Very little knowledge about the local weather or judgement from experience go into their actual broadcast. They love to pick the one that is the most sensational. That would of course be one with potential for hail, strong damaging wind and possibly tornadoes for tonight. They want to whip you into a frenzy so you will tune in for their next broadcast to see if the forecast changed so their ratings look better.

Do yourself a favor and just take 30 seconds to look at a weather app on your phone or go to the national weather service website and read their forecast real quick. It takes less time, you won't find yourself aggravated or put off and you will have a better idea of what weather to actually expect.

[y8tiger]

Watching local and national news this morning reminded me of the saying, "When the weather guessers say it is not going to snow, that is when you know it is going to snow."

[djmaxwell]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

I try to watch at least one or two weathercasts to stay informed on weather potentials. Until she recently retired, the WAAY weathercaster was top of my list. Calm and reserved and factual, very professional. That has changed radically with the change of guard. Yesterday, the smiling weathercaster there was downplaying Tuesday while national news was showing it as a problem and Michael Robinson has been indicating some concerning development. Today she was doing a puff piece on how much wind it takes to blow a patio chair off your deck.

The main weathercaster on WAAY has finally crossed my level of tolerance. When you have a futurecast radar that costs thousands of dollars to set up, only an blithering IDIOT uses the hand remote to fast forward through it while yammering. I have tivo and can do slow motion, and have had to use it before with her, but with the concern about where and when tomorrow for storms, her predilection for focus on herself rather than events has just put me into the "fire her for complete incompetence" camp.

Jessica C seems to be the newcomer with greatest potential. Time for me to switch for at least that segment of news before I start tossing stuff at the screen.

From the discussion I heard over the wall, the person you miss doesn't think the weather will be much of an issue around here.