NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER

Don’t let the weather keep you from doing good work -- be prepared

By Tracy Barbutes

July 20, 2021 - “What’s that saying? There’s no bad weather, just bad gear,” Anne Raup, Anchorage Daily News visuals editor, joked recently. “There’s some iteration of that everywhere you go.” 

“Because we’re photojournalists and we carry expensive gear, we do tend to think about the weather more,” said Karen Ducey, an independent photojournalist in Seattle.

Ducey added, “I carry a tub in my car filled with weather stuff: extra raincoat, small towels for cameras, Think Tank weather raincoats for camera gear, hat, garbage bag, Ziploc bag, flashlight, first aid kit, power inverter. I have six weather apps, and I use StormRadar all the time. You can pinpoint where you are on the map and know how much time you have between storms. In the Pacific Northwest, we get assignments that will most likely deal with rain. We don’t get hurricanes, but we get downpours, incessant downpours.”

Raup’s team covers news and sporting events year-round in Alaska’s extreme environment, no matter the weather conditions. She said she pays close attention to incoming weather, particularly involving decisions about whether to abort assignments that include boats and aircraft. One such example is that while covering the annual 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, her staff must travel from remote checkpoint to remote checkpoint in small airplanes. Though having photographers weathered in during the race is frustrating, Raup asked, “As an editor, what am I sending people into? You don’t want to put anyone’s life in potential danger for a story. Ever. It’s safety first.”

According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. experienced 22 weather and climate disasters in 2020, in which at least 262 people were killed and scores more were injured. The U.S. has sustained 291 weather and climate disasters since 1980, and their overall damages/costs exceed $1.9 trillion.

"Everything is connected to weather, whether we think about it or not,” said Brian Kratzer, associate professor, University of Missouri, and director of photography, Columbia Missourian.

“Being on top of your climate is vitally important as a journalist. As a community photographer, if you’re not involved in looking at weather every single day, you’re going to be behind the ball,” said Kent Porter, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer. “The better educated, the better the coverage.”

Porter said he checks the weather several times a day and said he “has to be obsessed, hypervigilant” because of what’s happened in his community over the years. (Most recently the 2017 Tubbs Fire and the 2020 Glass Fire burned through the city of Santa Rosa and neighboring communities.) “As citizens and as journalists, the fires are coming to us now, we’re no longer having to go to them, or go as far,” he added.

Porter runs through a checklist of resources each morning and evening to assess information from meteorologists, wind advisories and weather models to remain one step ahead of weather conditions.

“The preparedness doesn’t start the day of, it starts the night before, the day before, the week before,” Porter said. “The last thing you want to do as a journalist is drop the ball. The more prepared you are, the more prepared your community will be.”

Porter likens being a photojournalist to being a professional athlete. You wouldn’t show up to a professional sporting event not understanding and anticipating your opponent. He said being prepared for assignments and disasters is all about preparation.

Minnesota-based severe-weather independent photojournalist and self-professed weather nerd Doug Kiesling regularly reads forecast models, often looking 12 days out to see what is trending. He looks at Global Forecast System (GFS), the North American Mesoscale Forecast System (NAM) and the Rapid Refresh (RAP) numerical weather model, as well as many other global forecasts. Kiesling has to look at everything for himself to make informed decisions for his coverage. The last thing he looks at are TV models. “Photojournalists should always have an exit strategy and always pay attention to the wind direction,” he said.

When the weather gets dicey, longtime Indianapolis Star visual journalist Robert Scheer often reaches out to his go-to weather source, WTHR-TV meteorologist Angela Buchman. The Emmy-winning Buchman earned a degree in atmospheric science from Purdue University.

Kathleen Flynn, an independent photojournalist and documentary filmmaker living in New Orleans, spent nearly 20 years working as a photojournalist at the Tampa Bay Times and NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Flynn has covered countless hurricanes, and while she was a staff photographer in Florida, she went through hurricane safety training prior to each season. When Katrina happened, at that point, she said she “had coverage almost down to a science,” and her paper (Tampa Bay Times) was one of the first to get images out.

She keeps an eye on the weather every day and receives daily news and weather alerts on her phone. She remains dialed into NOAA and other online resources to track a storm’s movements.

When it’s apparent a hurricane is approaching, Flynn immediately secures a sufficient supply of gasoline because gas stations often run out before a storm hits. She keeps a hurricane kit and “a ton of water” in her car to ensure she remains hydrated and because sometimes photojournalists arrive on the scene before rescuers. She said journalists need to be prepared to provide water to people in need.

She encourages those who cover hurricanes to rent a car, preferably an SUV, and most importantly to “understand your environment.” It is recommended that full insurance is taken out on rental cars when anticipating damage to vehicles. Be aware that you may be the first car to go down a street, and there may be a lot of debris and downed power lines in the standing water. She uses waders and advises against walking in water, though sometimes it can’t be avoided.

Flynn insists it is important for all newsroom editors to understand how hurricane coverage works. Editors who send freelancers to hurricanes need to be certain that those photojournalists have a solid understanding of the weather, as well as sufficient water, gasoline, supplies, resources and support.

And not just weather is being addressed at the educational levels. Preparations for natural disasters, protests and COVID-19 safety lectures and courses are on the radar of many photojournalism schools, including, and certainly not limited to, University of Nevada, Reno, San Francisco State University, Indiana University, University of Oregon, University of Georgia, University of California San Diego and University of Minnesota. Heading into internships and jobs, students have a better understanding of all-around safety precautions.

Chris Post, an Emmy-nominated TV news photojournalist in the Philadelphia media market, worked in emergency services prior to becoming a journalist. Post, also the NPPA chair for Safety & Security Task Force, has been deployed to countless hurricanes as a photojournalist, as well as with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He carries more noncamera gear than camera gear in his car to a severe weather event. These items include, but are not limited to, a chainsaw, extra gasoline, cans of Fix-a-Flat, spare water and a first aid kit.

According to Post, “Natural disasters are the No. 1 hazard in the U.S.”

Post said that several elements of weather must be considered when documenting stories involving inclement weather: temperature, wind, stability of the atmosphere, relative humidity, precipitation and cloud development. He uses the RadarScope app, and he encourages journalists to use a local weather radar app and set it to receive warnings. He also highly recommends taking SkyWarn courses, which teach things such as the basics of thunderstorm development, fundamentals of storm structure and basic severe weather safety.

But, Post added, weather awareness isn’t limited to covering severe events, and he used sports photography as an example. Post said that when covering a road rally event or a golf tournament, to be properly prepared, a photojournalist needs to know in advance what the weather will do. Will you need a hat, sunscreen, rain gear, an extra layer of clothing, protection for your gear? If lightning is predicted, do you have an escape plan?

“Dress for what’s coming up, not what you see,” Post said. When he talks to journalists, he teaches them to crawl, walk, run. He encourages journalists to listen: Are flags flapping around? And look up: Is the sky changing color? “What you don’t know now can get you killed. Read the weather, look at your apps, use all those tools to make smart decisions, and then plan accordingly.”

Tracy Barbutes (@tracybarbutes) is a visual journalist and writer based near Yosemite National Park, California. She can be reached at [email protected]. She has been an NPPA member since 2011.

RESOURCES

Check Your Weather:
Global Forecast Systems 
National Hurricane Center 
National Weather Service
Weather Models

Smart Phone Apps:
AccuWeather
NOAA
RadarScope
StormRadar
Windy
Weather Underground

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