More of Florida's television meteorologists are incorporating climate change reporting into their weather forecasts.
Jeff Berardelli, chief meteorologist and climate specialist at NBC affiliate WFLA-TV in Tampa, said he includes climate reporting in a segment he does every day.
“I call it the 'Berardelli Bonus,' and it's about a minute and a half long. And a lot of those talk about climate change, because there's so many huge things going on in the world right now that I think we're being irresponsible if we're not providing context. We're not doing our job if we're not educating the public,” Berardelli told Tom Hudson on "The Florida Roundup" on Friday.
“I mean, who better than a local TV meteorologist, and what better platform and place than a weathercast to talk about the connection between extreme weather and climate change? There isn't one in my belief.”
The push to have meteorologists include climate change in their forecasts isn’t new. John Morales, hurricane specialist for WTVJ-TV in Miami, was among 100 broadcast meteorologists who met with President Bill Clinton in 1997 to discuss the issue.
“Not every single broadcast meteorologist who was present there that day necessarily left as inspired as I did, but it made me pivot to that subject matter, and modesty aside, made me a pioneer in that area of communicating this to my audiences,” Morales said on "The Florida Roundup."
Now, he said there’s more meteorologists providing climate context, but more are needed.
“If we are going to be the station scientists, in other words, the one person in the newsroom that knows more science and Earth science than anybody else, well, then within that realm, we would most definitely need to be talking about the changing climate," Morales said. "Because it's, well, it's a very close fit to the weather, of course, and I would expect broadcast meteorologists to not just talk about meteor showers regularly.
“I would expect them to talk about the changing climate regularly and provide that context so that viewers can understand the connections that exist, particularly between extreme weather events and the warming planet.”
An example of those connections, Morales noted, is the extreme heat Florida has experienced this spring and in 2023.
“… These are opportunities where the broadcast meteorologists should go ahead and provide that connection, make people realize that, hey, you see this heat wave we're living through? This is consistent with what you would expect in a warming climate,” Morales explained.
“I mean, who better than a local TV meteorologist, and what better platform and place than a weather cast to talk about the connection between extreme weather and climate change? There isn't one in my belief.”Jeff Berardelli
On July 1, a new Florida law will take effect banning local governments from putting heat protections in place for workers. Another Florida law will remove references of the phrase “climate change” from state statutes, among other changes.
Morales said policy has a lot to do with where the world is headed in terms of climate change.
“And because policy has a lot to do with it, that intersection between what we do, which is communicate the state of the science, and asking people to act on climate, to act on it, which is, yes, that is advocating,” Morales said. “If I'm asking people to act on climate, I am advocating. I try to avoid the blues and the reds and whatnot, because this is not a blue or red issue. This is an issue for all of mankind and all of Floridians, right?”
Berardelli said he’s being honest about the science when he reports on climate change.
“I stay away from politics. If I advocate, I just simply say, do something, whatever it is that you can do. Care. I'm not asking people to do something specific, because once you tell them to do something specific, first of all, they do the opposite thing, and second of all, that gets them angry," Berardelli said. "So I'm just simply saying, it's amazing that we're in a stage of world right now where advocating to try to save the planet is actually considered a negative thing in some spaces.”
Both said the response from audiences has been mostly positive.
“People are not calling me or emailing me saying, ‘Why are you doing this? Just give us the weather forecast. Don't talk about it.’ I don't get that at all," Morales said. "Instead, people thank me for being the one that provides that very critical information that they need to know in a place especially like Miami, which down the line, faces an existential threat from the changing climate.”
