Meteorologist resigns, citing PTSD from threats over climate change coverage

When Iowa meteorologist Chris Gloninger got an email notification last June, it read: “Getting sick and tired of your liberal conspiracy on the weather.”

“What’s your address,” another asked Gloninger a few days later. “We conservative Iowans would like to give you an Iowan welcome you will never forget.”

The emails arrived relentlessly in Gloninger’s inbox for another month, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported. The sender accused the award-winning meteorologist, who spoke frequently about the effects of climate change, of being a conspiracy theorist and a “worthless Biden puppet.” Another told Gloninger to “go east and drown from the ice cap melting.”

Gloninger, the chief meteorologist at Des Moines news station KCCI, shared some of the messages on social media in July and said they had taken a toll on him.

“I’m trying to put it behind me,” Gloninger told The Washington Post. “But at the same point, I think it brings awareness to what journalists face day-to-day bringing the news.”

The episode ultimately led the meteorologist to a career-altering decision. Gloninger is departing KCCI and his career in TV news in July, he announced Wednesday, citing family health issues and post-traumatic stress he suffered after receiving the threats.

KCCI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gloninger grew up in New York and became inspired to pursue meteorology after experiencing Hurricane Bob in 1991 as a second-grader, he said. As a reporter, he covered Hurricanes Sandy and Irene, and launched a weekly program on climate change with NBC10 Boston. In 2019, Gloninger won a regional Emmy there for an environmental project.

Pushback on programming related to climate change was constant, particularly after Gloninger moved to Iowa and became KCCI’s chief meteorologist in 2021. Gloninger said he developed a thick skin and focused his broadcasts on trying to demonstrate the practical ways climate change could affect his viewers.

“It’s great to see that ‘aha’ moment,” Gloninger said. “So I’ve always been wanting to try to educate but to also have a conversation.”

In that spirit, he replied with a conciliatory message to the first harassing email he received on June 21, 2022. It didn’t lead to a dialogue. Gloninger was at a barber shop when the second, more threatening, email appeared in his inbox. His stomach sank. He thought about his wife alone at home, so he rushed back and called the police.

The email that asked Gloninger for his address and promised an “Iowan welcome” from conservatives also mentioned Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, appearing to reference the armed man who was charged with attempted murder that month after being arrested near Kavanaugh’s home. To Gloninger, it felt more menacing than past messages he had received…