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Lawrenceburg Welcomes Southeast Digital Weather Conference

LAWRENCEBURG, TN – Nearly 80 television meteorologists from across the United States and Canada found their way to Lawrenceburg on December 7th for the first ever Southeast Digital Meteorology Conference.  The event was held at the Southern Tennessee Higher Education Center and gave focus to several of the nation’s top weather people on how digital media is evolving the broadcast meteorology industry.

Event attendees were treated to a full day of presentations from local and regional EMA experts, severe weather and social media trend discussions, and had hands-on experience with new and emerging weather technologies.  Event goers were also challenged by The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation who presented multiple scenarios on how weather affects crime scenes and forensic meteorology.

This year’s keynote speaker was longtime Birmingham meteorologist Ashley Gann who spoke on how social media and digital platforms are reshaping college classrooms and program offerings.  Gann recently transitioned out of broadcast weather to professor and public information officer for Auburn University.  Additionally, representatives of UT Martin, UAH, and Marshall University were in attendance.

“The men and women of the television and academic weather community who came here got to experience how the industry is evolving and learned how to grow with it,” stated Ben Luna, who organized the event.  “Best of all, they got to experience southern hospitality at its best in my hometown.”

The movement toward providing local weather information has grown rapidly in recent years.  Luna, in addition to his team at Tennessee Valley Weather, was joined by five other meteorologists who’ve developed “hyper-local” weather channels that cover portions of New Jersey, East Tennessee, Nebraska, Louisiana, and California.  “This movement toward digital media to deliver weather information is just the beginning in the changing landscape of broadcasting,” Luna continued.  “On the forefront of this progression is to better deliver critical weather information to all people, especially those in small, more rural communities.”

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