CCL volunteers award local meteorologists for outstanding climate coverage
By Gram Brownlee
Local TV meteorologists are uniquely positioned to help the public understand the connection between extreme weather and climate change.
As well as being good communicators, they are scientists and trusted messengers to viewers across the political spectrum — which is why CCL volunteers have set out to award local meteorologists in their states for outstanding climate communication.
Throughout this year, CCL’s Meteorologist Outreach Action Team has been accepting nominations for the new Climate Coverage Champion Awards, celebrating meteorologists who use their platform as respected scientific communicators to educate the public on climate change and its direct impacts on communities.
Meteorologist Kari Hall and CCL volunteer Rob Kahn
On May 15, Kari Hall, a meteorologist with NBC Bay News in Northern California, received the team’s first Climate Coverage Champion Award from CCL’s San Francisco Bay area chapters.
San Mateo volunteer Rob Kahn presented the award, praising Hall for her efforts to impart education on climate change through her on-air weather and news segments, her social media, and her appearances at public events.
Accepting the award at the television studio, Kari recognized the hard work her crew has put in to cover climate stories.
“It’s a team effort, but it’s nice to be recognized,” she added.
On June 26, members of CCL’s Fairfax County chapter in Virginia presented the second Climate Coverage Champion Award to Kaitlyn McGrath from WUSA9, a station serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
Volunteer Meredith Haines and Julia Fine were invited on air to present the award live to Kaitlyn as members of the WUSA9 staff watched and applauded. Watch the clip here.
Meteorologist Kaitlyn McGrath (center), with CCL volunteers Julia Fine and Meredith Haines
Handing over the award, Meredith thanked Kaitlyn and her team for being a “trusted science voice” in the community. Meteorologists “meet people in their homes almost daily and help them navigate the short term and long term impacts of the weather around them,” Meredith said.
In addition to actively communicating about climate change on air and via social media, Kaitlyn regularly attends panel discussions with environmental and climate change organizations to share her approach to climate communication.
Thanking her local CCL chapter for the award on Instagram, Kaitlyn wrote, “Communicating the impacts of climate change is a tremendous responsibility of meteorologists and one I so passionately stand behind.”
Meteorologist Brittany Van Voorhees and CCL volunteer Mark Taylor
Extreme heat and devastating weather events are escalating as our climate continues to warm, and it’s essential that a majority of the public understands that these unnatural disasters are connected to human behavior and the burning of heat-trapping fossil fuels.
But a new Media Matters report shows that just 12% of national TV segments aired during the recent heat wave in the southwestern U.S. connected the extremes to climate change.
On July 12, members of CCL’s Charlotte, North Carolina chapter presented an award to meteorologist Brittany Van Voorhees from WCNC Charlotte for her work raising awareness of and implementing solutions to climate change.
“The goal is to educate and not just identify problems but find and implement realistic solutions,” Van Voorhees said.
Inspiration strikes
The awards originated from an initiative by CCL’s San Antonio chapter. In 2021, San Antonio members Stuart Birnbaum and Bill Hurley created and presented a climate communication award to Alex Garcia, Chief Meteorologist at FOX San Antonio, in recognition of his work covering climate change, such as in his TV documentary “Winter Days of Future Past“ on climate change’s effect on South Texas winters.
“We created the Climate Coverage Champion Award to recognize local broadcast meteorologists for their outstanding work in educating the public about climate change impacts and solutions,” said Rob Kahn, who co-leads the Meteorologist Outreach Action Team. “It is our hope that these awards will inspire many other news stations and meteorologists to regularly cover climate change.”
The Action Team gives the awards to meteorologists who go beyond just reporting weather in their coverage by linking extreme weather events to climate change, acknowledging the human causes of these unnatural disasters, and emphasizing the impact of climate change in their local communities. They also look for meteorologists who are active in their communities, appearing at public events and posting on social media.
The Meteorologist Outreach Action Team plans to present awards to more meteorologists in the coming months and years for their work to bridge the information gap on weather and climate.
Trusted messengers
In an Action Team meeting on May 8, Nielsen media researcher and CCL Pittsburgh chapter co-leader Dana Siler presented research showing that meteorologists are widely trusted among TV audiences, ranking behind only family members and the broad category of “scientists.”
This research, carried out by Nielsen and Climate Central, shows that meteorologists are trusted as nonpartisan and purely science-based. Their position on broadcast television gives them a naturally broad audience, and makes any effort to amplify their voices, such as this award, even more valuable to the public.
Chapters can nominate candidates they believe meet the guidelines for future awards by reaching out to Action Team leaders Rob Kahn and Richard Larsen.
Gram Brownlee is a CCL Communications Intern based out of Greenville, South Carolina. He is a rising senior studying journalism and political science at Elon University.
