SourceWatch needs your financial support to survive and thrive. If you've found this information on the people, organizations, and issues shaping the public agenda helpful, please make a tax-deductible donation now.

Anthony Watts

From SourceWatch

Jump to: navigation, search


This article is part of the Climate change portal on SourceWatch.

Willard Anthony Watts (Anthony Watts) is a weathercaster at KPAY 1290 AM radio in Chico, California and a climate change skeptic.

Contents

Background and education

Watts grew up around Cincinnati, Ohio and reportedly attended Purdue University[1], studying Electrical Engineering and Meteorology.[2]. Watts's "About" page mentions neither his Purdue attendance nor whether he graduated. [3]. Watts has not been willing to say whether he graduated.[4]

"Anthony began his broadcasting career, in 1978 in Lafayette, Indiana."[5]

Credentials

Credentials held

Watts holds an American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval (a discontinued credential that does not require a bachelor's or higher degree in atmospheric science or meteorology from an accredited college/university)[6] with a status of "retired".[7]

Credentials not held

Some online lists incorrectly refer to Watts as "AMS Certified"[8], but this is incorrect; the American Meteorological Society reserves its "AMS Certified" designation for its Certified Broadcast Meteorologists and Certified Consulting Meteorologists[9], and Watts posesses neither certification.[10],[11]

Actions

"Leipzig Declaration"

Anthony Watts is listed as a signatory on the "Leipzig Declaration", which said "there does not exist today a general scientific consensus about the importance of greenhouse warming from rising levels of carbon dioxide. In fact, most climate specialists now agree that actual observations from both weather satellites and balloon-borne radiosondes show no current warming whatsoever."

Speaking

Watts was a speaker at the International Conference on Climate Change (2009) organized by the Heartland Institute think tank. [12] Watts is also listed as a speaker for the Heartland Institute's June 2009 Third International Conference on Climate Change.[13]

Businesses

In 1987, Watts founded ItWorks, which "supplies custom weather stations, Internet servers, weather graphics content, and broadcast video equipment." [14]; it is also known as IntelliWeather.

Watts is listed as the Managing Member of ZEV2Go, seller of an NEV-type electric car.[15]

Climate projects

In 2007, Watts founded SurfaceStations.org, to collect information on weather stations that are part of the United States Historical Climatological Network (USHCN) and Global Historical Climatological Network (GHCN). [16] Watts believed that, with the information collected via the website, "we will be able to demonstrate that some of the global warming increase is not from CO2 but from localized changes in the temperature-measurement environment."[17],[18]. But the results did not match Watts's expectations; a NOAA analysis of the Surface Stations data showed "no indication from this analysis that poor station exposure has imparted a bias in the U.S. temperature trends."[19]

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. ↑ Evan Tuchinsky (2007-12-06). Watts, me worry?. Reno News and Review. Retrieved on 2009-11-09. “...1978, when he was a student working in a lab at Purdue University...”
  2. ↑ "Chico Unified School District Board of Education". Retrieved on 2006-02-16. “...attended Purdue University where he studied Electrical Engineering and Meteorology. He was on the Purdue Meteorology Department staff and assisted in doing severe storm studies and created one of the instruments used in the original Totable Tornado Observatory”
  3. ↑ About Anthony. Retrieved on 2009-12-24.
  4. ↑ "Does Anthony Watts have a college degree?" (2009-10-27). Retrieved on 2009-11-08.
  5. ↑ News Team. KHSL-TV 12. Retrieved on 2001-03-06. “Anthony began his broadcasting career, in 1978 in Lafayette, Indiana.”
  6. ↑ "REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AMS SEAL OF APPROVAL PROGRAM". American Meteorological Society. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. “"Applications for the AMS Seal of Approval Program will be accepted until 31 December 2008. After that date, only applications for the AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Program will be accepted."”
  7. ↑ "List of AMS Television Seal Holders". American Meteorological Society (2009-11-05). Retrieved on 2009-11-08.
  8. ↑ Warming Scare Tactics - Skeptical Scientists (2008). Retrieved on 2008-11-08. “"Anthony Watts, AMS Certified (sic), Chief Meteorologist KPAY-AM, USA"”
  9. ↑ "Guidelines for use of the AMS Name, Seal, and Logos". American Meteorological Society. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. “"Sealholders may not refer to themselves as 'certified by the AMS' because that designation is reserved for individuals with the CBM or CCM certification."”
  10. ↑ "List of AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologists (CBM)". American Meteorological Society (2009-11-05). Retrieved on 2009-11-08.
  11. ↑ "List of AMS Certified Consulting Meteorologists (CCM)". American Meteorological Society (2009-11-19). Retrieved on 2009-11-23.
  12. ↑ "Speakers," Heartland Institute website, accessed January 2009.
  13. ↑ Heartland Institute, "Speakers", Heartland Institute, accessed May 7, 2009.
  14. ↑ "Personnel details: Mr. Anthony Watts," Heartland Institute website, accessed March 2009.
  15. ↑ ZEV2Go LLC Entity Details. Nevada Secretary of State. Retrieved on 2009-11-08.
  16. ↑ "About," SurfaceStations.org, accessed March 2009.
  17. ↑ Bill Steigerwald, "Helping along global warming," The Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), June 17, 2007.
  18. ↑ Anthony Watts (2009-03-10). Weather Station Siting Issues within the USHCN Surface Station Network (.mp3). Heartland Institute Conference. Retrieved on 2009-12-26.
  19. ↑ Talking Points related to concerns about whether the U.S. temperature record is reliable (pdf). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2009-07-06). Retrieved on 2009-11-08. “"for detecting climate change, the concern is not the absolute temperature – whether a station is reading warmer or cooler than a nearby station over grass – but how that temperature changes over time."”

External resources

External articles

Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Anthony_Watts"
Personal tools

Be a SourceWatcher!

Enter your e-mail address to get the Center for Media and Democracy's free weekly e-newsletter.