Dallas forecaster announces he’s headed to NYC station

After announcing his departure from the Dallas market in April 2025, KTVT chief meteorologist Scott Padgett has announced he’s headed to the Big Apple.

Padgett, who has been with the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas, CBS-owned station since 2013, will join WCBS in New York City June 30, 2025.

His last day on CBS News Texas is May 30, 2025.

Padgett, who has worked the morning shift at KTVT since June 2024 as part of the station’s effort to launch a “reimagined” morning newscast, 

“We are thrilled to see Scott transition to CBS New York. We thank him for his outstanding contributions and wish him the very best,” said KTVT’s news director, Meagan Harris, in a statement.

It was not clear what role Padgett will take on at WCBS. 

Lonnie Quinn, the station’s current chief forecaster, recently returned to work after taking time off to recover from a brain injury. The station’s weekday morning weather slot is currently occupied by John Elliott, with Vanessa Murdock, Tony Sadiku and Craig Allen round out the First Alert weather team.

Allen, who had spent 40 years on the weather team at WCBS Newsradio 880 before it was rebranded as WHSQ ESPN New York 880, currently works part-time for WCBS New York.

CBS had not owned WCBS-AM since 2017, when those assets were merged with Entercom, now known as Audacy. 

WCBS-AM switched to a sports format in 2024, when Allen left the station, and landed at CBS News Radio while also adding the part-time TV forecasting gig.

Quinn, meanwhile, had been tapped to appear regularly on “CBS Evening News” starting in January 2025, contributing coverage of major weather events and national weather from a virtual studio setup. While he was out on leave, various other forecasters from across the CBS family appeared on “Evening” when needed.

The move to add Quinn to “Evening” was part of a broader effort to beef up weather and climate coverage at CBS News.

Quinn, Elliott, Murdock and Sadiku bring WCBS’s full-time weather team headcount to four, which is a common number of forecasters for a station to maintain. Allen is a fifth member, but serves more in a fill-in role. 

That said, it’s not unheard of for stations to have five or six full-time forecasters, with the midday, afternoon and evening blocks often split up among various team members. Having additional forecasts can also be helpful during severe weather coverage when two or more will keep viewers informed.