Chief Meteorologist Matt Laubhan and the WTVA Severe Weather Authority team will remain in Tupelo, Miss., after the owner of the station, Allen Media Group, mostly reversed a decision that would have replaced local weather teams with meteorologists from The Weather Channel supply coverage from Atlanta, according to a statement released by WTVA on Jan. 23.
The decision to move operations to Atlanta was to “improve reporting capabilities, especially in high-stakes weather situations,” according to a statement from Allen Media Group that NPR reported on Jan. 19.
In announcing the change in plans, WTVA issued this statement: “(On) Wednesday afternoon, we received word from our parent company that they heard you loud and clear. The communication we received was that their decision has mostly been reversed. So what does that mean for us? The WTVA Severe Weather Authority — the meteorologists you’ve come to know and trust — will remain here.”
Allen Media Group’s initial decision to replace the local weather team received backlash on social media, especially from North Mississippi residents.
On Jan. 19, Robert Thornton of Tupelo started a change.org petition titled “Urge Allen Media Group to Halt Layoffs of WTVA Meteorology Team,” which attracted more than 35,000 signatures.
Thornton said that local meteorology teams are valued by the people that they serve.
“There’s a lot of communities around, they depend on Matt and his team to be able to call out areas and around them, to be able to pronounce the cities and towns correctly — they live in the areas,” Thornton said. “They can tell you in a short amount of time how much time you have to get to your safe place.”
Thornton believes that the petition had a part to play in the reversal.
“I think the petition had something to do with it, but I can’t take all the credit for that because all I did was formulate the words that I would hope would pull on the heartstrings of people to make the change happen,” Thornton said.
Patsy Smith Griffin of Belden, Miss., was among those concerned.
“Thousands of people depend on local meteorologists here,” Griffin said. “Our weather is too severe to risk lives. We need those people to keep us informed and safe.”
Griffin also learned about the reversal through Facebook and reached out to WTVA for confirmation on the morning of Jan. 23. At noon the same day, WTVA published the official reversal statement.
“I felt relieved when I heard about the reversal announcement,” Griffin said. “I feel like the people of North Mississippi made a difference with all the calls and emails to Allen Media and WTVA.”
