Maryland Television Station
Using AHPS

Television station WHAG, an affiliate of NBC, serving Hagerstown, Maryland, is located along the eastern slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. WHAG serves the 4-state area of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia with a TV coverage area of about 1.2 million people.

Besides providing the latest weather forecasts, the meteorologists at WHAG pay close attention to the Potomac River which runs right through the middle of the viewing area.

Dave Skutnik, a meteorologist for WHAG, said they use the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Services (AHPS) information when there is flooding on the Potomac. “Just about everyone watching is within a stones throw of the river. [AHPS] is the best way for us to get an idea of the current river levels and to show what to expect. ” 

WHAG meteorologists monitor the AHPS web site originating from the Washington/Baltimore National Weather Service Forecast Office located in Sterling, Virginia, anytime there is flooding going on. In the November 2003, during a flood episode on the Potomac, WHAG’s own in-house graphic system failed. “We were in a bind and needed something because our graphic system failed 20 minutes before the newscast,” said Skutnik. “That’s when the idea popped into my head to go to directly to Sterling’s AHPS web page for something the people could look at.”

“We’ve had a couple of times since then that we’ve popped things on the air directly from the Sterling office to show people the current [river] levels, what’s going on, and what is expected. It’s quick and easy for us to point out what is happening without having to recreate television graphics,” stated Skutnik.

When informed that WHAG occasionally used the Sterling AHPS graphics to support their newscast, Meteorologist-in-Charge Jim Travers stated, “We are pleased we are gaining more customers. We are making a special effort to make people aware of AHPS.”