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In an era of extreme weather, indie weathermen are streaming coverage 24-7—and banding together.
Northern Mississippi was under an inch of ice, in the middle of a stretch of subzero January temperatures, when a meteorologist named Matt Laubhan heard from the public service commissioner that residents were starting to run out of water. The official said the region was looking for generators that could power pumps to keep municipal water flowing in towns where the ice had knocked out the electricity.
Within a few minutes, Laubhan was interviewing the commissioner on his livestream, Mississippi Live Weather, which goes out on YouTube, X, Facebook, and apps for smartphones, Roku, and Apple TV. Soon some viewers started offering up generators, helping local water associations keep the pumps flowing. “In those breaking weather situations, information is the commodity that’s the difference between life and death,” Laubhan told me.
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