John Baranick
John Baranick is an agricultural meteorologist for DTN Progressive Farmer, focused on how short- and long-range weather patterns affect crop production and commodity markets. He translates complex forecast model output on showers, heavy rainfall, and pattern changes into concise coverage that highlights risks and opportunities for agribusiness. His work on model disagreement around prospective heat waves fits the same pattern, foregrounding forecast uncertainty and its implications for crops.
He has worked as a meteorologist with the company since 2011, using his forecasts to comment on impacts to agriculture, energy, transportation, and aviation and to help customers make business decisions. His coverage spans written articles, blogs, videos, and podcasts, giving producers and market participants multiple ways to follow evolving conditions. Consistently, he treats weather as a driver of operational and market outcomes rather than background noise.
Crop and region-specific forecasts
Baranick’s routine forecast pieces track developing systems across key production regions, including the Corn Belt, the Plains, and the Canadian Prairies. In coverage of showers spreading through the U.S., he pairs domestic rainfall analysis with attention to South American planting conditions that are driving commodity markets. Articles on daily rain in the Plains and more rain for the Corn Belt concentrate on when rain will fall, where systems will focus, and how long patterns are expected to persist.
His report on heavy rain moving into the Canadian Prairies highlights multi-day rainfall episodes and the potential for disruption implied in the “messing with” framing of the headline.
Pieces such as “Where’s the Fall Weather? It’s Getting Close” mark transitions into new seasons and explain when cooler patterns are expected to arrive.
Across these regional forecasts, the distinguishing feature is his consistent linkage of specific systems to the practical realities of crop areas, rather than generalized national weather coverage.
Short-term briefs and model discussion
Baranick also produces frequent Ag Weather Briefs that condense U.S. outlooks and model discussion into quick reads for time-pressed market participants. These briefs explicitly foreground forecast models and guidance, signaling to technically minded readers how confident he is in particular scenarios and where model solutions diverge.
By combining model commentary with geographic breakdowns, the briefs turn raw guidance into narrative about what the next few days mean for major agricultural regions.
Set alongside his longer pieces on specific storms and rain events, the briefs function as a running update stream that keeps users aligned with changing patterns without requiring them to parse model data themselves. This focus on model behavior and short-term evolution distinguishes his coverage from generic weather reporting that might only list forecast highs and lows.
Climate drivers and seasonal outlooks
Beyond day-to-day systems, Baranick dedicates substantial coverage to large-scale climate drivers such as El Nino and La Nina and their implications for crops. In work on five global regions hit hard by a “super El Nino,” he describes how its effects are widespread across the globe and not limited to areas adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, underscoring the interconnectedness of global agriculture and climate. Seasonal outlook videos and podcasts feature him walking audiences through late-winter to summer patterns, tying expected temperature and precipitation anomalies to planting windows, crop growth, and agronomics.
These longer-horizon analyses show him stepping back from immediate storms to examine the background state that will frame an entire growing season.
By presenting climate signals alongside concrete crop and agronomic implications, he serves as a bridge between climate diagnostics and decisions on when and how to plant or manage fields. Taken together with his regional forecasts and briefs, this work defines a clear through-line: translating complex atmospheric dynamics into specific, operationally relevant information for agriculture and related industries.
4 more environment journalists.
Alan Halaly
Alan Halaly is a water reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal who treats the Colorado River as a working system, not a backdrop, making its governance, infrastructure and risks central to his beat. He covers how policy decisions and infrastructure projects shape the region’s water future, linking high-level choices on the Colorado River, dams, mining and data centers to everyday consequences under mounting heat and growth pressures. He reports deeply on new laws, lawsuits and regulatory shifts, focusing on on-the-ground impacts. His coverage spans Colorado River cuts, Hoover Dam operations, extreme weather, heat and parks, septic system rules, workplace and public health risks, lithium and gold mines, protected landscapes, data centers, AI infrastructure and public funding. Previously he reported for metropolitan dailies, digital outlets and public media, including the Miami Herald, WUFT, The Daily Beast and Miami New Times, with work recognized by Hearst, ONA and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Alejandra Borunda
Alejandra Borunda reports on how climate change affects human health for NPR. Her work treats global warming as a direct cause of physical and mental health risks. She covers extreme heat, including undercounted deaths, lost sleep and local efforts to track heat-related fatalities. She also reports on wildfire smoke, hurricanes, disease spread such as dengue fever, trauma, stress and unequal health impacts. Her stories examine how communities protect themselves and recover, as well as practical solutions involving climate-resilient crops, agriculture and diet. Before NPR, she wrote about climate science and environmental issues for National Geographic, including glacier retreat, shade and heat inequity, and shrinking ice-fishing seasons. A former climate scientist, she combines field reporting with scientific data to connect atmospheric research to everyday risks, choices and people’s lived experiences.
Alex Lubben
Alex Lubben is an environment reporter at The Times-Picayune/The Advocate who connects climate risk to policy, industry and community change. He covers Gulf warming, flood protection, coastal restoration, wetlands litigation, industrial projects such as SpaceX’s possible expansion, invasive species and local ecosystems. His reporting tracks how law, politics and corporate decisions shape levees, drainage, marshes and long-term resilience. He also examines climate relocation, housing and labor, showing how hurricanes, floods and wildfires displace vulnerable communities and expose gaps in government systems. He works on a small environment team and brings an investigative background to document work, data analysis, legal and policy research, and field reporting. His work has appeared in VICE News, The Center for Public Integrity, The Nation, Jewish Currents and NBC News.
Alex Wigglesworth
Alex Wigglesworth reports on how climate, land use and public policy shape California communities. She covers the Inland Empire and Mojave Desert for the Los Angeles Times and is part of its environment team. Her beat includes wildfires, megadrought, extreme weather, desert development, conservation, wildlife, industrial hazards, aging infrastructure and regulatory enforcement. She has covered Western Joshua trees, desert tortoises, beaver-led restoration, toxic lead pipes, air-quality concerns after industrial fires and the effects of nuclear war on food systems. Earlier, she was a general assignment reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. She combines breaking news with detailed reporting grounded in scientific studies, modeling and expert interviews. Her work connects fires, drought and other hazards to climate change, while examining how agencies, companies and land-use decisions affect people and ecosystems.