The Weather Channel comes to call
The Weather Channel paid a visit to the college and the Arlington Agricultural Research Station in pursuit of a story about how weather can affect dairy animals. TWC meteorologist Mike Bettes and producer Christina Glowacki interviewed UW dairy herd manager Mike Peters about how the animals fare in weather cold and hot.
The weather cooperated: Bettes was treated to sub-freezing temperatures and light snow. The herd manager emphasized the many steps taken by UW staff to assure animal care and comfort in extreme weather, including extra feed and access to water. Dairy cattle are adapted to cold and will get along fine as long they’re sheltered from wind chills, he said.
“Our employees will get here to take care of the cows no matter how bad the weather is,” Peters said.
Bettes has traveled the world in search of weather stories and is most noted for winning an Emmy for a series about storm chasing for WKEF in Dayton, Ohio. In 2009 to 2010, he was part of the largest tornado field experiment in history, Vortex 2, to help better understand this elusive phenomenon, and he is the lead field meteorologist during TWC’s annual tornado season coverage, The Great Tornado Hunt, according to his bio.
The scariest weather moment? “Tornado chasing can get a little hairy,” he said
TWC plans to air the piece done here at the university in mid-March starting with its morning wake up show with likely rotation through the day.