Angela Fritz, senior director of weather and climate at CNN, carries a nostalgic view of meteorology — and the relationship and trust local meteorologists have with their communities. She, like everyone else, also carries a phone.
CNN has long been in the business of weather news, but the news media organization recently diversified its weather coverage with a new mobile weather app, launched in May.
“This is the thing that I’m most excited about, and the thing that I’ve been kind of itching to do for a long time,” Fritz — whose undergraduate degree is in meteorology — said.
“I love weather. I love weather communication,” she told E&P. “Over the past 10 years or so, I’ve seen what I call a ‘generational shift in media consumption,’ and I think it’s to the detriment of weather awareness and weather knowledge. [We’re losing the] connection that we used to have with our local meteorologists in the ‘90s and early 2000s — that’s where we would go for weather. I truly believe that the concept of a local TV meteorologist is really the purest form and the highest form of meteorology and weather information news, but we're losing that.
“So, when CNN said, ‘Hey, I think we have a space here to fill,’ I said absolutely because I think the next version of really good, trusted weather information is in an app, and is on mobile, because it needs to meet people where they are, right? It’s not enough just to be on TV anymore. Honestly, it’s not even enough to be on social media and on YouTube,” she said.
Most weather apps available today have some combination of weather outlooks and radar. But weather reports are most important during a major weather outbreak, such as a hurricane, tornado or major flash flood. It’s in those moments, Fritz said, when consumers need help interpreting the information, to know the timing and specific location where the worst is about to happen. That’s where CNN plans to leverage the expertise of its meteorologists and journalists, to provide real-time information through live feeds.
“I would never say that tornado warnings from the National Weather Service aren’t enough,” she said. “They absolutely are lifesaving. But it is 2026, and people want and need an expert to explain what’s going on. We have the ability to tell people what’s going on in real time. We have the ability to track radar with our velocity products and our correlation coefficient products, to show you exactly where that tornado is tracking. Isn’t that something that people want to know?”
The app will use location data to target the users under weather-related threat. Then they can deliver content for those specific locations.
CNN sells sponsorships for the app, which keeps it free for the public to download, at least for now. Fritz said CNN has big plans to build the platform out and “dive in” with localized coverage as the product evolves.
“There are radar apps, and there are forecast-data apps like Apple’s Weather, but there’s nothing that takes that data and explains it,” said Fritz.
The CNN Weather app is the latest example of CNN’s broadening mobile strategy. CNN also plans to provide more lifestyle content and extend its mobile-app reach outside of the breaking news space.
Bob Miller has spent more than 25 years in local newsrooms, including 12 years as an executive editor with Rust Communications. Bob also produces an independent true crime investigative podcast called The Lawless Files.
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