By Liam Reilly, CNN

New York (CNN) — “Kevin and I have come into your homes for decades — nearly 37 years for me,” Patrece Dayton, a news anchor in Terre Haute, Indiana, told viewers on Friday in front of a box of tissues. “And more than 40 for me,” added Kevin Orpurt, the TV station’s chief meteorologist.

“For those of you who don’t know, both of our positions are being eliminated here at WTHI-TV,” Dayton continued. “The television business in general is changing nationwide and budget cuts are happening everywhere.”

The on-air duo, who have long been household names in western Indiana, delivered a tearful farewell to viewers Friday after the station’s parent company, Allen Media Group, announced sweeping cuts that will see all local meteorologists eliminated or reassigned at its nearly two dozen stations nationwide.

In place of the local weather forecasters will be a national “hub” based in Atlanta led by Carl Parker, a veteran storm and climate specialist at The Weather Channel — which the Byron Allen-owned media group acquired for $300 million in March 2018. The plan will see the locally produced segments replaced by a feed beamed to individual stations from The Weather Channel, which could include some of the stations’ former meteorologists.

The layoffs at roughly two dozen local television stations stretching from Massachusetts to Hawaii will impact at least 50 meteorologists, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person said some of the meteorologists will be offered new positions at The Weather Channel in Atlanta while others will be allowed to remain in their respective markets as part of the initiative.

“By now most of you have probably seen the chatter about Allen media letting local meteorologists go, well I am one that will be affected by this,” Amber Kulick, a meteorologist at WAAY in Huntsville, Alabama, wrote in a Facebook post. “For now I am still at the station but I am looking for my next career opportunity.”

Christina Burkhart, a meteorologist who recently departed Flint, Michigan-based WJRT, described how the weather reports will be handled from afar.

“Weather forecasts will be sent from the weather channel in Atlanta,” Burkhart said in a Facebook post. “These will be pre-recorded by regional meteorologists recording hits for each Allen station. Live severe weather coverage will also come from them.”

In a press release Saturday, Allen Media said the Atlanta-based operation will offer local stations new technologies, upgraded forecasting tools, additional graphic capabilities, and the ability to cover weather stories 24/7. A person familiar with the matter said the Atlanta-based staff will also be deployed during certain weather events. The company emphasized that weather coverage will remain a “top priority” for local stations, adding that the new format “will dramatically improve reporting capabilities, especially in high-stakes weather situations.”

The elimination of local meteorologists marks the latest round of cuts at the Allen Media Group, which last year shed an undisclosed number of staffers, citing “strategic changes.” The Weather Channel, which will spearhead the new hub, also reduced its staff last year, laying off key staffers in October, which the company called “a continuation of the reduction in workforce.” Allen Media also shuttered the Weather Channel’s Spanish-language version, citing “extensive cost-cutting measures.”

Byron Allen, the company’s founder and chief executive, has made several failed bids for major media companies. Last year, he offered $30 billion for Paramount Global in a widely reported move. In 2023, he offered Disney a reported $10 billion for ABC and some of its cable networks and considered a bid for E.W. Scripps. None of the offers panned out.

Spencer Denton, a meteorologist at Gray Media-owned WVLT in Knoxville, Tennessee, noted on Facebook that while the change “may save money in the short term,” it also “takes away value and credibility in the long term.”

“WEATHER is the number one reason most people watch a local newscast,” Denton wrote. “These folks are more valuable than some companies realize and I am certain they will land on their feet.”

While Americans’ trust in the news media has declined as the country grows more polarized, local news remains one of the most trusted forms of information. Meteorologists at local stations are trained scientists distinctly familiar with their community’s weather threats and vulnerabilities, providing critical forecasts and information during emergencies.

Even as traditional television outlets have seen their viewership shrink in recent years as more Americans switch to streaming services, weather has consistently been the top reason viewers tune in to local news. A 2019 Pew study found that weather was the most important news topic in respondents’ day-to-day lives, with 70% of those surveyed “expressing a daily need for information.”

Recent weather-related disasters have also highlighted the need for local news reporting during emergencies. As devastating wildfires tore through thousands of homes and structures in the Los Angeles area this month, local television outlets saw a surge in viewers seeking immediate information, with audiences doubling and tripling their usual size across news programming, according to Nielsen data.

Some meteorologists warned that the loss of local weather forecasters across the country will come at a cost to their communities.

“Local meteorologists are essential to local news,” Sam Kuffel, a meteorologist at a Milwaukee CBS affiliate who was not impacted by the layoffs, wrote on X. “Communities will suffer during major, local weather events because of this decision.”

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