Patrick Evans
Patrick Evans turns extreme heat and everyday weather shifts into public safety coverage, using his forecasts to spell out risk, timing, and practical steps for staying safe. He is Chief Meteorologist at News Channel 3, anchoring the First Alert Weather Team’s morning and midday coverage and hosting the lifestyle program Eye on the Desert. His work centers on short-range local forecasts with a strong emphasis on prolonged heat events, humidity, and the atmospheric patterns driving them.
Brutal heat ahead
Evans’s signature coverage focuses on spells of extreme heat, where he tracks how quickly temperatures move from already hot into record-challenging territory.
In “Brutal heat ahead as highs rise into the 120s,” he walks through a multi-day warmup, noting highs in the lower one-teens, the return of an Extreme Heat Warning, and the potential to threaten records over several days. He consistently pairs these numbers with explicit heat safety guidance, reminding viewers of protocols to protect themselves and their families during the hottest periods.
Across pieces on extreme heat warnings and heat alerts, he frames forecast information around the duration and intensity of the hazard, signalling when conditions move from uncomfortable to dangerous.
His writing in these articles blends clear temperature thresholds, advisory language, and the branding of the First Alert Forecast to show when a routine hot day becomes a higher-risk event. Rather than stopping at “hot” or “above average,” he details when temperatures will peak, how long warnings will stay in effect, and when some relief is expected, giving a structured picture of each heat wave.
Extreme heat warning continues into the weekend
Evans uses the First Alert Weather Alert and Extreme Heat Warning designations as central tools in his coverage, laying out the exact windows when alerts begin and end. In articles such as “Extreme heat warning continues into the weekend” and “Extreme Heat Warning goes into effect today,” he specifies start and end times for warnings, highlights the days of greatest concern, and distinguishes between “reasonable” lower one-teens and more dangerous highs near 120. He often explains that warnings are extended or reissued across several days, underlining that risk accumulates over time rather than in a single afternoon.
These pieces show him working as a daily hazard manager: he updates audiences on when alerts are issued, links them to expected temperature ranges, and describes the role of humidity and dew points in how harsh the heat will feel. The coverage is tightly time-bound, oriented around weekends and specific stretches of days, which allows him to tie environmental risk directly to people’s short-term plans.
Expect lower dew points and temps this week
Evans pays close attention to dew points and humidity, treating them as core variables rather than secondary details. In “Expect lower dew points and temps this week,” he explains that dew points are dropping into the 40s and that daytime highs are returning to around seasonal norms, connecting moisture levels to how comfortable conditions will feel.
He frequently contrasts days when dew points surge into the 70s, adding to discomfort, with subsequent days when drier air arrives and the same temperature reads very differently.
He also brings in synoptic-scale explanations in plain language, citing high pressure, troughs of low pressure to the north, and shifting flows that move cooler or drier air into the area. Across local forecast pieces, he links these meteorological drivers to specific changes in dew points and highs, giving audiences both the “why” and the “what” behind short-term environmental shifts.
This emphasis on moisture, not just temperature, distinguishes his work from generic heat coverage and positions humidity as a key comfort and safety factor.
Tropical moisture moves out
When tropical systems and thunderstorms affect his coverage area, Evans integrates storm impacts into his forecasts and then tracks how quickly conditions normalize.
In “Tropical moisture moves out,” he describes a tropical thunderstorm associated with Hurricane Polo, notes runoff closing a local road, and then follows the system’s inland track as it weakens to a tropical depression. He outlines how high pressure will rebuild, drying the region and bringing daytime highs into the middle 90s before nudging slightly above average near 100 for the rest of the week.
Similar pieces use Doppler radar monitoring and references to potential thunderstorm development to connect atmospheric setups with tangible local effects. Evans’s approach is to link immediate impacts - storms, lightning, road closures - to the next several days of forecast, showing how quickly tropical moisture moves out and when more typical heat resumes. The work sits at the intersection of environmental hazard reporting and practical forecasting, rooted in a long broadcast career that includes leading News Channel 3’s weather coverage and earning industry recognition such as an Emmy Award and induction into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Silver Circle.
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.