![]() ![]() They’re average people getting up to do an honest day’s work. Some folks even walk away from their dream jobs to preserve their mental health after the endless stream of nastiness. It stings to have to deal with that on a daily basis. ![]() They see it all - the insults, the comments, the jokes, the outright harassment. It’s a part of their job to monitor the barrage of social media posts and emails that come in on a daily basis. ![]() Television meteorologists don’t have that luxury. Those celebrities are themselves surrounded by entourages and more money than any of us could ever imagine, building a virtual wall that protects them from the endless nitpicking they receive from the general public. We’re surrounded by criticism of A-List celebrities. That kind of gossip is engrained in our culture. There are entire comment threads that debate whether or not a meteorologist is pregnant. And if that suit fits as well as it used to. And whether or not that dress is appropriate. And that they’re just not as pretty as the morning meteorologist. What they can’t abide, though, are the endless comments on their personal appearance. Predicting the future is hard and sometimes they get it wrong. They have thick skins and can take the heat. Whether it’s sunny or snowy, meteorologists take a whole heap of guff over any forecast. Personal criticism is out of bounds - and it cuts deep ![]() It should go without saying, but keeping people safe from a tornado is more important than catching an episode that will appear online 12 hours later. These stations can’t divide their feed to show coverage only to people in harm’s way - over-the-air broadcasts don’t work like that. But cutting into regular programming to cover a tornado warning is a public service required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).Ī network’s FCC broadcast license comes with the requirement that the station’s broadcast serves the public interest during a tornado, that public interest is very much keeping those in harm’s way aware of what’s on the horizon.īroadcast meteorologists get flooded with hate mail and even death threats when they have to interrupt a popular show for severe weather coverage. It’s frustrating to miss your favorite TV show because someone 25 miles away is getting a severe thunderstorm. They get death threats for interrupting popular shows A meteorologist starting out in a smaller television market could struggle to crack $20,000 a year, which is hardly enough to live on.Ģ. The average salary for broadcast meteorologists around the United States is about $57,000, but that takes into account well-paid bigwigs - think Tom Skilling at WGN in Chicago - as well as the chipper new weekend meteorologist who’s barely old enough to go to a bar. They’re on TV, after all, so how hard could they have it? “You made more money at your first job than we did,” said one meteorologist at a news station in the southeastern U.S. It’s easy to assume your friendly neighborhood weatherperson is raking in the dough. Most television meteorologists aren’t paid well Here are a few secrets your favorite TV meteorologist would love to tell you about their jobs - but can’t. Part of the job is staying cool in the face of criticism and keeping mum on things that annoy them. Broadcast meteorologists are on the front lines of weather communication, talking us through the weather on local television news and social media every day. ![]()
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