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After the remnants of Hurricane Ida were dumped historical precipitation levels Last year in the Northeast, ABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Zee stood in front of a collapsing bridge in New Jersey and bluntly warned audiences “Good Morning America.”

Ms. Zee said “human-induced” global warming did not cause storms like Hurricane Ida to happen in the first place. But high humidity levels in the oceans are making them more destructive.

“Extreme events that are already going to happen,” he said, “will become more extreme.”

The job of a TV weather reporter changes with the weather.

For decades, the men and women who made their best-educated forecasts about the weather provided a respite from the brutal news reports, often playing a comical foil to the presenters. Willard Scott played Ronald McDonald and Bozo the Clown before becoming the leading weatherman on NBC’s “Today Show” in the 1980s.

But Ms. Zee and her colleagues see themselves as following perhaps the most serious story of our time. Increasingly destructive weather is already given TV meteorologists show a more instinctive presence in viewers’ lives. However, over the past few years, they have often gone out of their way to openly remind viewers that human-caused climate change is a real and destructive force that is putting lives and the environment at risk.

“As a scientist and someone who understands the atmosphere, I have not only a passion but a real connection to climate science,” Ms. Zee, a graduate of meteorology at Valparaiso University, said in an interview.

CNN’s meteorologist Derek Van Dam entered international politics in October. statement On the link between climate change and migration crises. Air duct announced would increase the scope of climate change last summer. Even local broadcasters, known for their five-day forecasts, are no longer shy about it.

“During the weather, you usually want to give people what they’re looking for at that moment,” said Jeff Berardelli, who moved to CBS’s Tampa affiliate in November as a national meteorologist for CBS News. “But when the opportunity presents itself, I’ll put it in climate context.”

in article On Friday, about the approaching blizzard in the northeast over the weekend, Mr Berardelli reported that warming waters in the Northeast were likely the cause of the much more frequent major winter weather events.

Al Roker, weather and feature host and longtime co-host of NBC’s “Today” program, said that NBC News’ climate unit – the new name for the weather unit as of 2019 – “is not trying to push the issue or beat you up.” Instead, he said, the group has made careful associations between severe weather events and climate change.

Mr Roker said in 2021 the unit presented more than 50 segments on climate change that were not dependent on weather forecasts – about droughts, wet summers, rapidly intensifying hurricanes in the West – up from roughly 20 in 2019.

25th anniversary this year meeting More than 100 national and local television forecasters are at the White House. President of the time, Bill Clinton, hoped that they would convey the realities of global warming to the public.

But most of the meteorologists and climate scientists interviewed for this article said the trend of weather personalities broadcasting openly about man-made global warming is much more recent, as the consequences of climate change are getting more acute. The issue continued to be politically divisive, with many conservatives, including former President Donald J. Trump, ignoring the overwhelming scientific consensus.

Meteorologist Amy Freeze (recording the name given to her) said Fox Weather, the 24-hour broadcast channel that began in October, acknowledged the problem. channel set Take over Fox Business broadcasts Saturday morning and afternoon (which is also an early morning watch on Fox News) considering the weekend storm. He admitted that the topic was fraught with “political arena”.

“Our job is to help people live better lives and to give them the knowledge and tools they can use in the here and now,” said Ms. Freeze. “So we’re going to address climate change.”

James Spann, a meteorologist at ABC’s Birmingham, Ala. Wrote In a Medium article last year, he avoided mentioning the climate explicitly so as not to alienate some viewers. “If you say anything about the climate, you lose half your audience,” he said.

Other forecasters insisted that positive feedback for climate coverage far outweighed negative responses. “I don’t look at my position as an overbearing tribune,” Mr. Roker said. “It is for informational purposes only. You can open more eyes by simply presenting the facts.

“Our management and producers don’t underestimate our audience,” he added. “I think it might be politicians.”

Over 1,000 TV meteorologists get free weekly explosions Information, data and images on the links between weather and climate change from Climate Central, a nonprofit organization works with journalists to publicize the truth about climate change. Bernadette Woods Placky, chief meteorologist of the Climate Center, said forecasters were “at the forefront of making these connections with the public.”

Several meteorologists said they used Climate Central’s sites and materials in the broadcast. It uses Spanish graphics, said Elizabeth Robaina, meteorologist for Telemundo’s subsidiary in San Juan, PR. C

Emily Gracey Miller, meteorologist at ABC’s Charleston, SC affiliate until last year, commended the Climate Center for responsibly reporting climate news in relevant and non-didactic ways.

“They would say things like how higher temperatures have affected over the last decade. beer production” said.

Miss Miller’s former channel is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. she asked stations to broadcast politically conservative news items. Ms. Miller said she was in a position to discuss man-made climate change live on air. A Sinclair representative did not respond to a request for comment.

Ms. Zee, the first female meteorologist on a major broadcast network, said she became interested in the weather as a child by watching storms develop over Lake Michigan. As a teenager, she saw a future version of herself in the storm-chasing meteorologist played by Helen Hunt in the 1996 movie “Twister”.

It now hosts a recurring feature on climate change with the title “It’s Not Too Late”, including a 50-minute special about last Earth Day, aired on Hulu. He recently added the titles of chief climate reporter and editor-in-chief of a new ABC News unit dedicated to climate change. Among the topics it reports on are those close to the weather only, such as carbon replacement technologies.

Ms. Zee said, “Someone said, ‘Why did you become such a lawyer?’ he said. “Well, I always fell in love with the atmosphere, thought about it, respected it. But for the most part, it’s just science. At the end of the day, I’m just telling you the science.”