![]() When an elderly man needs a chair at the packed Panera, Berk grabs one for him. The irony is that Berk comes across like an inveterate people-pleaser. Somehow, this self-described “weather nut” has touched a nerve, becoming one of Baltimore’s most divisive media figures. ![]() And though he has won several “Best of” awards from local media (including Baltimore in 2000, 2006, and 2007), he has also taken plenty of hits for his denial of man-made climate change and his thin-skinned reactions to criticism. A parody Twitter account ( regularly mocks his forecasting skills, his catch phrases (“Faith in the Flakes,” “stickage,” et al.), and his general persona. But since heading online-only in 2012, his following has, well, snowballed, and he now reaches about 1 million people a week on Facebook alone, and up to 5 million during storms.īut he has accumulated a small, vocal contingent of detractors, as well. Almost certainly, a portion of his audience followed him over from his Baltimore TV gigs, first at WBAL from 1997 to 2003 and then at WMAR from 2003 to 2012. With more than 200,000 followers on Facebook, nearly 30,000 on Twitter, and as many as hundreds of thousands of daily visitors to his website,, Berk’s populist touch can’t be denied. “Now how do you that without putting people to sleep?” he asks, his eyes alight with all the delight of a kid on a snow day. “This is where it’s going to start as rain and go to heavy snow, probably a couple inches of accumulation, then to rain, then into snow tomorrow,” he says, pointing to the pink smear on the map engulfing the greater Baltimore region. Look,” he continues, turning his computer to reveal a radar map. I hate to be rude,” he says in his rapid-fire patois that still retains a hint of his native “New Yawk” accent. Suddenly, snow that was scheduled for the following day might arrive as early as this afternoon, and Berk, the meteorologist of choice for many Baltimoreans, is worried about missing a chance to update his legion of social media followers on the latest projections. A storm system is headed for Maryland and is moving in faster than anticipated. His preoccupation, as always, is the weather. Though he’s being interviewed in the back of a Timonium Panera Bread, he keeps stealing glances at his MacBook Pro and his iPhone, which lies on the table buzzing and ringing frequently. Yup, there was a lot of pressure to keep many scientist quiet.Justin Berk is distracted. "The stable global temperatures and increasing support for cooling in recent years has only strengthened the scientists who were forced into silence out of fear of dissent. Therefore is should still be up for debate." (link) "Many have stated that Global Warming is a Theory, since according to the basic scientific method, it is not a proven Law. Some of the things he says suggest he isn't very familiar with this issue, for example: "A story yesterday in Investors Business Daily pointed out that the planet has been cooling since 1998, ice growth had begun in the northern Hemisphere last year.".His major argument, which seems to be his main reason for being skeptical of the theory is that warming and cooling have occured naturally in the past.Most of his blog posts are on the subject of weather with only a brief mention of climate change now and again.I have also been pointed to Justin Berk's blog - there's a recent post on global warming here. ![]() The list cites this news article (alternative source, the link on the list is broken). Skeptical of dire man-made global warming claims. Meteorologist Justin Berk asserted that the "majority of TV meteorologists" are ![]()
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