Isobars, fronts and Godzilla: Inside the creative mind of Joe Snedeker

Of course, like with all attempts at humor or creativity, there are bound to be detractors — such as when an anonymous viewer left a ranting voicemail in Snedeker’s inbox one day. 

What happened next? Well, as they say, let’s go to the tape: 

Despite all the offbeat approaches to weather forecasting, Snedeker emphasizes that everything he does is about getting important and often complex information to viewers — especially when it could affect their safety or everyday lives. 

“I hope my ‘weird’ graphics help to do that,” says Snedeker.

At the end of the day, however, it’s hard to argue that viewers seem to like spending their mornings with anchors Tom Williams and Mindi Ramsey along with Snedeker’s weather segments. 

For February 2016 sweeps, the last ratings data the station has made publicly available in its media kit, the morning newscasts, which run from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m., cap out at a 14.8 rating and 61.4 share.

Like most morning shows, Channel 16’s is heavy on the weather, so it’s a great showcase for Snedeker to combine Max’s advanced weather drawing tools, WNEP’s outdoor weather studio, his passion for weather and science and his own creativity.

Author’s note: In the interest of full disclosure, I worked as a production assistant at WNEP.

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[focus-on]This article is part of our Focus On Weather. View more from the series here.[/focus-on]