Thread by @JosephPattonWx

Allen Media Group, who owns and operates 22 local "big 4" television stations across the US, and also coincidentally, The Weather Channel, has decided to cut costs by eliminating the jobs of every local meteorologist at all of their stations. all of them. a🧵

WTVA (ABC/NBC) in Tupelo/Columbus, MS, one of the most vulnerable areas in the entire country for deadly tornadoes, will have no local meteorologists starting March, right for southern severe storm season. MS has had 4 EF tornadoes since 2020, killing at least 30 people

KIMT (CBS) in Rochester, MN / Mason City, IA will have no local meteorologists to deliver blizzard forecasts starting in March. Rochester, MN has recorded over 200 inches of snowfall since 2020

KEZI (ABC) in Eugene, OR will have no local meteorologists to bring local expertise to forecasts starting in 2 months.
their neighbor KDRV/KDKF in Medford/Klamath Falls, OR will also lose all local weather coverage. this map shows all of the wildfires for this area just in 2024

KHSL/KNVN (CBS) in Chico/Redding, CA, another neighbor to the two Oregon stations, is losing all local broadcast meteorology presence. this includes the coverage area for the Park Fire, the 4th largest wildfire in California history. just the fire suppression costs were >$350mil

WTHI (CBS/FOX) in Terre Haute, IN is letting their entire staff of broadcast meteorologists go. an EF3 tornado in southwest Indiana killed at least 5 people in 2023. there will be no local meteorology coverage for events like this beginning in March

their neighbors WLFI (CBS) in Lafayette, IN and WFFT (FOX) in Fort Wayne, IN will also cease employing local meteorologists starting in 2 months. dozens of tornados occurred in northern Indiana in 2024 causing millions of dollars in property damage

WAAY (ABC) in Huntsville, AL will lay off all of the local broadcast meteorologists in just a few weeks. this includes a significant chunk of the area affected by the April 27th, 2011 super outbreak, which produced multiple EF5 tornadoes and caused hundreds of deaths

WEVV (CBS) in Evansville, IN will no longer employ local broadcast meteorologists for daily weather or breaking severe weather coverage heading into this year's severe weather season. several EF2/3 tornadoes affected this media market just last year

KADN (NBC/FOX) in Lafayette, LA will forego having any local meteorologists provide weather coverage starting this March. this one in particular hits close to home, literally, as several hard working people will lose their livelihoods. the utility of this coverage is obvious

KITV/KIKU (ABC) in Honolulu, HI has decided to forego local expertise for daily/breaking weather coverage. a series of sudden wildfires in Maui, within their media market, killed >100 people and caused at least $5.5bil in damages in 2023. many more could've been hurt w/o them

just in Wisconsin alone, dozens of excellent local meteorologists will struggle to put food on the table, a move which will put people at risk. WAOW (ABC) in Wausau, WQOW (ABC) in Eau Claire, WKOW (ABC) in Madison, and WXOW (ABC) in La Crosse will all cease local weather coverage

WSIL (ABC) in Carbondale/Carterville, IL, serving much of southern Illinois and a tri-state area between St. Louis, MO and Paducah, KY will cease employing local broadcast meteorologists this March. multiple EF2/3 tornadoes occurred in their area just in 2024

WREX (NBC) serving Rockford, IL and much of northern Illinois will also shutter its local meteorology department this spring. this puts nearly a quarter-million people at risk for no/late breaking weather coverage as tornadoes frequent this area as well (this is 2024)

KWWL (NBC) in Waterloo, IA will cut ties with all of its local meteorologists in favor of national weather coverage in March. they also serve Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, & Dubuque, an area hit by 140mph winds from a derecho in 2020, the costliest thunderstorm in US history

WJRT (ABC) in Flint/Saginaw, MI will layoff its entire staff of local broadcast meteorologists this spring. this area routinely still sees severe wind gusts. these are all just from 2024

KVOA (NBC) in Tucson, AZ will opt to force several meteorologists into unemployment so that they can no longer provide local daily/breaking weather coverage. this is a flood-prone area due to the seasonal North American monsoon. two were killed in flash floods near Tucson in 2024

lastly, WCOV (FOX) in Montgomery, AL will close down its local meteorology coverage starting in March. in addition to the April 27, 2011 super tornado outbreak mentioned above, the combination of severe, tropical, and winter weather coverage is deeply important for this area

it's very sad to see dozens of good, hard-working people you know suddenly looking for work after only doing right by the people they work for. some of my friends will be hurting for a while from this, and many hundreds of thousands of people may for quite some time

/🧵