Turner, Roger. "In ‘Toon with the Weather" November 2009.
Roger Turner studies the historical connections between infrastructure, knowledge and the environment, and is completing a PhD in history of science at the University of Pennsylvania. Priya Ratneshwar, who initiated this media production, is a Staff Writer for the External Affairs office at the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania.
The television weather report evolved out of military training practices used during World War II. Pilots learned meteorology from cartoon-illustrated manuals, which resonated with the pervasive understanding of comic art in American visual culture. After the war, meteorologists used similar kinds of cartoon images to help TV viewers understand the weather. During the early 1950s, cartooning was an obligatory skill for TV weathercasters, and cartoons continue to influence how weather and climate information is presented on TV.
