A long-running Alaska television show that provides detailed weather, aviation and marine forecasts across the state will stop airing at the end of June. Meteorologists are looking for ways to keep the program available.
The last broadcast will take place Friday. Starting July 1, the National Weather Service will share a modified version of the program on itsHe expects the change to have the biggest impact on Alaskans in rural areas with intermittent internet.
“Most of us are all hunters and commercial fishermen, so weather is important to us,” he said. “Good weather forecasting is life and death for a lot of the stuff we do because a lot of times, we’re doing it in the middle of winter.”Alaska Public Media doesn’t have data on the show’s viewers, said Linda Wei, the chief content officer for the station.
“While the promise of fiber is coming online for some of our communities, it’s not there yet,” said Karen Pletnikoff, community environment and safety manager at Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association. She spoke earlier this month during the Alaska Federation of Natives’ listening session about the changes to the show. “There will always be a difference between what some families can afford and what other families can’t.
Erickson, from Unalakleet, said that he used to watch the show daily as well. While his family now has access to stronger Wi-Fi to get weather information online, Erickson said he still prefers “Alaska Weather” because he can see an actual meteorologist instead of trusting an app. “It will depend, you know, whether we fish or we don’t fish, whether we go hunting or we don’t go hunting, or whether we make a camping trip on the coast. Some of it is pretty critical,” Erickson said. “But then a lot of it is just comfort, you know — are you going to take the kids out? Are we going out for two or three days? Do we take little ones, old ones? So, everything we do is much more predicated on weather than maybe in most places.
“This is very helpful to the aviation community, to either realize that it’s going to be bad for the next couple of days, so don’t even worry about trying to make a flight,” he said, “or conversely, to see that there’s a storm coming in a few days so it’s maybe best to actually take care of a certain project now rather than wait.”
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