A Minnesota meteorologist is making no apologies for text messaging his wife to ensure his family was safe while he was live on-air during severe weather.
A video posted on Facebook with more than 8 million views shows Nick Jansen, Rochester news station KTTC’s chief meteorologist, texting while standing in front of a map graphic during a live broadcast. He then briefly briefly apologized.
Jansen was covering storms in southeastern Minnesota and Northern Iowa overnight Monday, July 28.
“Sorry I just had to text my wife. [The] baby was sleeping the whole night. So that’s going to be over with at this point in time,” Jansen said in the video.
Jansen proceeded to discuss high winds of 40 to 70 mph forecasted in the Rochester area going into Tuesday, July 29.
And while the forecast continued with no further interruptions, Jansen revealed in the Wednesday, July 30 Facebook post that he received critical email from a viewer who was bothered by the moment and questioned Jansen’s professionalism.
Jansen addressed the email by saying he takes both his job and the safety of his viewers “very seriously” but that he is “also a husband and a father.”
“In the middle of severe weather, I decided to take a brief moment to make sure my wife and child were safely in the basement. That’s not me being unprofessional, it’s me being human. I am a husband and a father FIRST,” he wrote. “Let’s all try to show each other a little more understanding and respect in life.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: TV meteorologist texts family during severe weather forecast
