A business reporter who covers the weather

Charlotte Porter, a reporter on the energy markets team at Bloomberg News, spoke with Lauren Meller of Bloomberg’s PR team about her beat, which is covering how weather affects energy prices.

Here is an excerpt:

You specialize in weather coverage. How did you get into this subject?

Early in my career, one of the first things drilled into me was how to do a wrap, pulling together material from reporters all over the country into a coherent narrative, and doing it quickly. Weather lent itself to this regularly.

How did you further explore your passion for weather when you arrived at Bloomberg?

After I joined Energy Markets, my team leader, Dan Stets, quickly came to see the advantage of regular weather coverage. Natural gas markets, in particular, pay close attention to the weather. Hurricanes can shut down offshore rigs and coastal refineries. Cold can freeze production at northern shale formations and affect natural gas demand and storage levels. El Ninos change worldwide weather patterns that have a direct impact on not only energy but agriculture.

Are there ebbs and flows in how busy you are, depending on seasonal weather patterns? Is there a particularly hectic time of the year for you?

Normally, I would say hurricane season is busiest, but this winter, it seems we just weren’t able to get a break, with storms almost every week and unrelenting cold. The weather does follow a pattern of sorts. In the U.S., November to March is considered the heating season, when natural gas demand peaks, and of course that’s when we get snow and cold. Spring is the heart of tornado and flooding season, and then the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June through November. There’s rarely a dull moment.

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