A CBC news project now delivers weather forecasts with a climate twist
This newsletter is 1,146 words long, an 8.8-minute read
October 9, 2023
Hundreds of reporters and media managers gathering to talk about their climate coverage, what’s the big deal? Hope! The success of “Climate Changes Everything” convinced me that journalists want to do better when it comes to climate change. The event took place in New York in September and was organized by Covering Climate Now. You can view the different sessions and conferences for free on YouTube.
Initiatives that rethink how we deliver weather forecasts, such as the ones from CBC and France Télévisions, it makes me optimistic too. We met with the person behind the fresh CBC Climate Dashboard, Naël Shiab. He explains why he decided to pursue such an ambitious project. Right after that story, you will the best climate stories from Canadian outlets from the last few weeks.
Amélie
Adding context to weather
A CBC news project now delivers weather forecasts with a twist. A climate change twist.
By Brianna Losinger-Ross
Canadians have felt the effects of extreme weather this season, with a majority of them connecting the events to climate change.
While global warming is fuelling extreme weather, senior data editor Naël Shiab and his team at CBC News decided to go more in-depth than the current temperature and precipitations when it comes to reporting the weather of the day. They launched the Climate Dashboard in the spring.
Screenshot of CBC News’ climate dashboard, which showed the considerable amount of forest fires burning across Canada and the United States—Aug 8, 2023
Shiab first felt other weather applications were missing historical trends, and wanted to fix it. His idea culminated in an important project demonstrating the effects of climate change by allowing users to compare historical weather data and see trends.
“Climate change is a big topic, and because of it being so important, we wanted to work on a project that focused on it,” Shiab said. “Also, I personally was kind of frustrated that my weather app didn’t have historical trends, and I felt that this is something that could be useful for everyone, to be able to compare current weather and compare it with past events and have projections.”
The dashboard, created with tools such as JavaScript and WebGL, allows viewers to understand in a minute many meteorological occurrences and facts, like where the hottest and coldest cities are, if there are any record-breaking temperatures, active Canadian wildfires, and the conditions of their own location.
Its launch comes at a pivotal time, since according to the United Nations Environment Program, wildfires will continue to worsen due to climate change, increasing their frequency and destruction.
Users can input their city into the dashboard and get data provided by the weather station located closest to them, and they can also see a variety of trends and predictions.
Like most science and data journalism stories, a challenge Shiab faced was making sure there was a good balance between scientific language and general understanding.
“We needed a general language that the users will understand quickly and easily, while keeping some scientific rigour,” he explained. “For some scientists, some language may not be precise enough, but we haven’t had any complaints from the scientific community, so I’m happy about that.”
Screenshot of CBC News’ projections from their climate dashboard—Aug 11, 2023
Adding climate to weather
CBC is among the pioneers who are rethinking the ways to deliver weather news. A few months ago, France Télévisions replaced its classic forecast with a format that “instills some climate literacy at prime time,” explained its Weather and Climate Editor Audrey Cerdan at the conference Climate Changes Everything in September. Seven months into the experiment, viewership got up, not down.
“Giving the weather without seriously talking about climate change [in 2023] is very much like covering Wall Street in 2008 without ever mentioning the financial crisis,” Cerdan said. “Change was much needed.” The segment airs during the evening forecast and includes contextualization of the current weather with climate change trends and having an expert answer a question from the audience.
Where do the sources come from?
Visualizing climate change and weather patterns relies heavily on science and data which makes it especially important to ensure you are working with very reliable sources.
“Because we created a dashboard that we want to maintain for several years, it was very important to have very reliable sources of data, that are being updated all the time,” Shiab said. “We went with data from Environment Canada, more specifically from the Metrological Services of Canada, since they have a lot of open and free APIs that you can use. I have been very impressed with the quality of data we are obtaining by Environment Canada.” An API is the interface or computer program between what you see in the dashboard and the source of the data, making it possible to be constantly updated.
From a coding standpoint, using reliable data originating from a few sources is helpful in ensuring the longevity of data-heavy projects since this allows for better connections with the organizations when problems occur.
Screenshot of CBC News’ Records for Aug 11 from their climate dashboard—Aug 11, 2023
Forest fire impact
When the dashboard first launched, the team had a solid base of data variables it wanted to relay to the public, with plans to roll out new features over the coming months. That was until the forest fires started ravaging the country.
“We weren’t supposed to add forest fires to the dashboard this soon, but we decided to be reactive,” Shiab said. “We added the smoke and air quality while we were at it, so if you check Toronto, Montreal, and other main cities you will have it.”
Now that the dashboard is up, Shiab and his team will be able to include variables like precipitation or wind and will ensure that they continue to adapt to future extreme weather events, since after all, they are conveying news.
In the news in August and September...
Canada is on fire
Canada reports worst wildfire season on record - and there's more to come this fall
Fact-checking: Posts overstate emissions impact of Canadian wildfires
Solutions: La radio amateur comme solution lors des urgences liées aux changements climatiques
Video: Australians learn Indigenous ways to manage fire risk
Indigenous
Climate migration in Canada
Our political leaders in New York for the Climate Ambition Summit
Trudeau grilled at climate summit over Canada’s fossil fuel expansion
En vidéo: Une prise de conscience (ou pas) au Sommet de l’ambition climatique
Analyse: Que retenir du Sommet sur l’ambition climatique de l’ONU?
A new angle: A different climate summit… in Kenya.
The Climate and the Media in Canada newsletter is brought to you by Concordia Journalism assistant professor Amélie Daoust-Boisvert and her team. It’s made possible because of support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Questions, feedback? Reach out at cmrconcordia@gmail.com
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This month, the newsletter is signed by Brianna Losinger-Ross and Mélanie Lussier. Editor-in-chief and editor Amélie Daoust-Boisvert.