I don't think NASA is the acronym you are looking for. Try NOAA.

I suspect most have at least a BS in some weather-related science. Some may have masters. I doubt many have PhDs. There is a certification from the American Meteorologist Society for Broadcast Meteorologist which has certain educational and other requirements. On the local news, I see traffic people go from news desk to on street reports and so on, but I rarely see anyone swapping positions with meteorologists.

The Weather Channel hosts seem to be the most professional and well educated in meteorology.

A couple of the weather channel hosts have PhD's - majority have bachelors or masters.

I think real sciency m’ ologists have lots of mathematics, physics hard science.

For most TV, not so much. Probably media focus.

I have pain that limits how much verticality I can do and I keep falling asleep so magzines, ipads, books fall on my face. I like information and news to the extent I can read, watch.

I also like to see what man on street gets for news. Fox and the right wing stations lie too much. i have had the habit of watching/record then play back fast ABC World News but I think ABC just fired ?Terry Moran for some un-T loving comment to a T staffer. I have to read the details, but I may have to speed view another network.

Six PM local TV news starions have way too much sports and waether. That’s why I speed watch it (10-15 mins).

Hot here in New Eng, then more sog and humidity.

I'm sorry to hear about your pain. I'm hoping it is not permanent.

I think we are getting into the age old debate, which is the better teacher, the person with extensive education and in depth understanding, or the person who is skilled in getting ideas across to others? You are definitely on to the right idea about TV meterologists having the skill set to make a complex batch of weather info into something helpful to watchers.

Thanks. Back in the Permian, I took an intro meterology class. That was fun.

Some of the people you see on tv are meteorologists, and some are not. In my city, we have presenters who majored in Communications, or Theater, or Journalism, or something else. And we have some who majored in Meteorology and related sciences.

The people you don’t see, working in the weather office of the station, are a different story. Many are meteorologists who are able to analyze data and other information from the station’s own instruments, from other local sources, from NOAA, the National Weather Service, and so on. And THOSE sources employ professionals in the field.

The presenter’s job is to give us the information we need to plan and prepare, in a clear and concise manner, that also engages us to pay attention. (listening to the dry information can really make anyone tune out) If the presenter is also a meteorologist, perhaps we trust them more, but they have to be able to ”reach us”. And of course, anyone working with information learns a lot as they go along, working with meteorology professionals and seminars, workshops, etc, as in any profession. Their education didn’t stop with the college degree.

Hahaha! roxol, I’m looking for mine.

Thanks, bpath. Well put.

I think many of them haven't completed meteorology programs in college.

Here in Seattle on one of our major local news channels, King 5, all the meteorologists have either bachelor's or master's degrees. The chief meteorologist, Rich Marriott, has a bachelor's in physics and a master's in meteorology. He then went on to grad school to study avalanches and mountain weather, leading to the NW Avalanche and Mountain Weather Forecast Center (NWAC).

https://www.king5.com/meet-the-team

I remember the meteorologist who gave the weather from Champagne-Urbana in Illinoise. His weather was the most scientific technical dry facts I ever heard. Boring if you weren't a farmer but completely accurate. No fluff. I loved it. His audience was farmers of course. He was a small wizened skimpy looking little guy. Obviously the real deal

patriciae

Patriciae, this suburban Chicago gal used to enjoy listening to the farm report on WGN radio. It was fascinating, and a nice reminder that farms are the backbone. Weather was a big part of the report. Max and Orion presented.

So I got interested in this, especially when I was looking up our local tv weather presenters. Some have a degree in broadcast meteorology or similar, and most had certification from the American Meteorological Society. The degree program is pretty intensive, based in the Geology Department but incorporating a lot of journalism or mass comm. The AMS recognition is intense! Here are the requirements (click on the following text) :AMS requirements

I found that too. bpath.

There are apparently several institutions that allow the course material to be taken remotely, online. I'll stick with my comment though. I poked around station rosters and found many whose academic training was in journalism or English.

It would appear that a popular broadcast meteorology program is online at Mississippi State. It still appears to be fairly intensive, and I don’t know how their online program is operated.

In looking at a few of our local on-air weather presenters, there is a mix of people with degrees in atmospheric sciences, geography (department is home to most such majors), and minors in computer science, maths, stats, many are journalism majors, and most, regardless of college background, also did the Miss State program.

I know there are other people collecting information that the presenters rely on, at their station and beyond the walls.

FSU (Florida State University) offers a bachlelors, masters and PhD in meteorology. Dr. Knabb from the weather channel and former NHC director got his PhD there. Stephanie Abrams, also of the weather channel, got her BS in meteorology from FSU.

I remember when I was a kid watching the news, the weather segment was done by a puppet named Albert the Alley Cat.

Was that with Tom Skilling in Madison? Tom went on to become a weather guru.

Our local and city station weather people most often should be on that show, "What Not To Wear". Esp. the women.

One guy likes to hype it up. I swear he gets kick-backs from grocery stores, lawn companies, etc. as when he predicts bad weather everyone rushes out to stock up on supplies or have yards mowed. 50% of the time nothing happens. I know it's hard to predict weather systems but with all the high tech, you'd think it could be a little more accurate. As someone mentioned, the old time weather forecasts seemed more trustworthy - and no computers, just sticking his/her head out the window. lol

We used to have a guy, Bill Matheson, who was very dramatic about giving the weather forecast. He used phrases like

”Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.”

”The dreaded of all meteorlogical phenomenom, THE SIBERIAN HIGH!!!”

”Keep your eye on the Idaho high.”

”It’s hanging over us like the sword of Damocles. ”

He loved to say that if the wind stopped blowing in Lethbridge, the cows would fall down.

Every report was a performance. He ended each forecast by bouncing his pointer off the floor and catching it.

Here's Albert.

https://www.milwaukeemag.com/a-puppet-used-to-deliver-the-weather-forecast-on-channel-6/

One of the huge irritations of life is the hyped weather report. We dont get rain any more it is a rain storm. The smallest breeze and it is a wind storm with alerts. My internet weather feed had us under a high heat warning because it was going to reach 86 degrees. You end up with no idea of whether or not you are going to be getting extreme weather because just ordinary old weather is listed as extreme.

patriciae

We live in a large metropolitan area near a Great Lake. There are so many microclimates around here, you have to learn that when the general forecast temp is 68, you know it will be 61 near the lake and 75 five miles west. If it is going to storm, it will be south of the city, and north will be dry. (But, if you are far enough out, especially north, you might not know that rain is coming your way at all, and have to check the radar for yourself. One of our tv weather guys has a setup at home and home is not far from where I live. When he’s not at work, he gives the weather for this neck of the woods online. It’s helpful.)

bpath, so true.

I love the idea of taking an intro to meteorology course. I'll have to look into that.

I've seen too many weather reports on TV that would have been better with Albert.

It's probably a tough gig, how to appeal to the spectrum ranging from those who are very interested in the details of what's being said, to others who don't care or only want a one sentence summary using words of 5 letters or less.

I have no clue what our local weather people have in the Kansas City area. A few years ago, one station had a woman who was a real alarmist in tornado weather. She would say "put your children in their car seats and put bicycle helmets on them and go for the basement. " A few seasons of that and she was no more. You don't say that to Kansans. We stand on the porch till we see it for ourselves or the windows start to blow out and then dive for the basement. The other stations were very calmly delivering the weather, and saying, "ok better head for that basement now". Several of them got awards for their coverage of tornadoes.

Chicago weather guru retired.

We have been in the Philly area for 9 years now, and one station seems to have a parade of pregnant weather presenters. Far as I can tell, two women have now had 2 babies each, and we've followed every day of the pregnancies. I know that the staff has trained meteorologists, but we usually see presenters.

Apparently Tom Skilling worked with Albert the Alley Cat early in his career, but felt that Albert did not contribute to the seriousness of weather. Tom took, and takes, weather seriously. Even in retirement he has shared weather commentary (although less and less). He does have a good sense of humor, though, just not about weather.

We have excellent weather people in our TV stations here. I know most of them have some sort of degree (not necessarily in meteorology but a related field) and/or other certification qualifications that have been published in the past and was curious, so looked up a couple of them. Here is a sample, for those of you who don’t think they aren’t educated or at least certified to do this work in some way. I personally believe those who understand the atmospheric science & m’ology of weather phenomena understand it better than most and those who have taken the broadcast journalism aspect have an edge in this career. The schools who have a co-curriculum in this aspect are obviously ahead of the curve.

Brad graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in Atmospheric Science in May of 1995. In 2005, Brad was awarded the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval from the American Meteorological Society. (He is also the chief m’ologist at this station).

Jeff has been a Meteorologist for nearly two decades and has a B.S. in Geosciences with a concentration in Broadcast & Operational Meteorology from Mississippi State University.

and from another station:

She received her Associate of Science degree there before going to the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology. She holds the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist seal of approval from the American Meteorological Society. She is also on the AMS board of directors for broadcast meteorology, where she helps other meteorologists attain their CBM. (She is the chief m’ologist at ankther station)

After graduating high school, he attended East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina where in 1996 he received a bachelor’s degree in Communications and a minor in Geography. Ben landed his first on-air job right out of college at WNCT-TV in Greenville, NC where he did weather for five years. While working at WNCT, he went back to school and received a certificate in broadcast meteorology from Mississippi State University.

I’ll leave it at these examples. We had one guy who worked for many years doing the weather, some during some pretty bad tornadoes. He developed some tornado models on his own and eventually started his own company and left the TV world. His last name is Baron, so if curious about their product, look up Barron Weather. It’s pretty amazing what they do and how far reaching the technology is applied.

I also have a very good friend who is an atmospheric scientist and has a PhD. He is at a local university and he and his team have worked both with NOAA and NASA for years.

My brother calls it "weather-chondria" when they try to hype up concern over every little bit of possible precipitation.

The average TV personality giving out the weather usually has a bachelor's or less, but all they need to know is a few catch words. All local TV news weather data is pulled from one or two of the 7 global weather models offered. GFS is offered by NOAA and free to all users but not considered very accurate. and since it's free most TV news stations use it.

ECMWF is considered the best and most accurate but few organizations use it because it costs a lot. Stations like the weather channel who's business is weather will use several models including high resolution and AI to try and predict the most accurate weather forecast and do employ Meteorologists with Master degrees. A PHD in meteorology as a local news channel weather personality is overkill and like Elmer teaching kindergartners the A-B-C's and a waste of talent.

I use Windy.com and click on a location to generate the forecast from 7 prediction models, and I'm looking at Friday and Saturday because we're thinking of a garage sale on these days. ECMWF (most accurate) shows rain on Saturday, the GFS (NOAA) shows sunny, and the other 5 show 2 with rain 2 sunny and 1 cloudy. So I'll give rain a better chance then NOAA's predicted sunny day. A local CBS station and a local fox station both show Sunny all day Saturday and it looks like both get their data from the national weather service (NOAA).

Kevin, I guess it depends on where you live . We get pretty detailed explanations, probably because of the number of technical people who live here,, travel in and out and depend on the coverage we’re used to getting from our weather reporters. And the fact that we get a lot of tornados.

Totally agree with a PhD being overkill though.

" ECMWF is considered the best and most accurate but few organizations use "

You impress no one using acronyms or abbreviations you haven't previously defined. Actually, that's probably true in general

We only have storms passing through affecting the weather for just a few months of the year. Depending on the type and circumstances, behavior can be unpredictable too far in advance. The local broadcasts I see occasionally almost always talk about what each of several different models show and often remark that "the European model" is better or worse in the particular situation and/or whether another one has a better record with that day's specifics over the European model. So apparently no one system has an overwhelming and always better advantage over others.

One thing I will say - I'm amused by what seems to be a common practice of female weather presenters to wear dresses a size or two too small with hemlines way above their knees. While I may be a member of the target audience for which such garb is aimed, to me, it screams - "I'm here because of how I look and dress, not because of what I know".

" "I'm here because of how I look and dress, not because of what I know". "

Yup, and that's exactly how they feel wearing it. I've known several, and that's not the type of clothing they wear unless they have to.

Profane insults further diminish your otherwise diminished credibility.

Take it outside, boys.