A 2019 Pew study found that weather was the most important news topic in respondents’ day-to-day lives, with 70% of those surveyed “expressing a daily need for information.”
Recent weather-related disasters have also highlighted the need for local news reporting during emergencies. As devastating wildfires tore through thousands of homes and structures in the Los Angeles area this month, local television outlets saw a surge in viewers seeking immediate information, with audiences doubling and tripling their usual size across news programming, according to Nielsen data.
Some meteorologists warned that the loss of local weather forecasters across the country will come at a cost to their communities.