How Brad Panovich weathers the internet

Good morning! Today is Monday, March 23, 2026. You’re reading The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.

Hi readers, it’s Lindsey here, who realized her sore throat all weekend might just be from the pollen surge — so alludes WCNC Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich in a TikTok my mom sent me. Speaking of Brad, today’s newsletter is kicking off with a Q&A-style article with Panovich himself. He recently sat down with The Ledger for a podcast episode to talk about what it’s like to be a weatherman in the age of influencers and social media.

We’ve also got an update on how the new I-485 toll lanes are doing (toll lanes are a hot topic around here), five tips to help new small business owners be sustainable, former Gov. Pat McCrory’s thoughts on N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger’s expected loss, and a look at The Ledger’s March Madness pool after the first round weekend. Let’s get into it.

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by Ashley Fahey

Although weather forecasting has become more precise, it’s somehow more distrusted in an era of viral social media posts, influencers, phone apps and artificial intelligence.

In a recent episode of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast, The Ledger grabbed a coffee with one of Charlotte’s most recognizable weathermen, Brad Panovich, chief meteorologist at WCNC, to talk about what it’s like to forecast the weather in 2026. Panovich reflects on how social media transformed his job, why Charlotte’s winter ice storm sparked what he calls a “rooting for ruin” reaction online and how climate change is affecting Charlotte.

Here are a few highlights from the conversation, edited for brevity and clarity.

Q. How has your role as a meteorologist changed in the age of social media?

I was an early adopter on social media because, for me, it was an outlet to talk about the weather outside of my normal broadcast times. I dove headfirst into it probably around 2008, 2009.

But what's devolved in the last, I don't know, four or five, maybe six years is you have anybody and everybody posting whatever. Which is fine. I mean, if I had social media when I was 16 or 18 years old and I loved weather, I'd be posting stuff all the time, too. But the problem is the public doesn't know how to discern between somebody who's throwing out whatever for fun and a professional.

It's made my job incredibly difficult because now I'm fighting misinformation more than trying to get information out. I probably spend half of my time now trying to calm people's fears down about a hurricane that's never going to come or a winter storm that isn't really going to happen. 

Q. In your Facebook post after Charlotte’s ice storm in January, you said, “our forecasts are getting objectively more accurate, yet the perception is that we ‘blow it’ more often.” You went on to say that you “get into this weird state sometimes where people think I'm supposed to apologize because the infrastructure wasn't destroyed, and you aren't without power for a week,” and you even called it the “rooting for ruin” phenomenon. Can you talk more about that?

This is more of a reflection of society. If [people] don't see it, feel it, experience it, it's like it didn't happen.

Ice is horrible. That's catastrophic damage. Especially in a city like this, if we lose power for a couple of days, people would probably die because we [would be] without power — you’ve got medical devices, you've got people trying to heat their homes, carbon monoxide, fires. Because the impact could have been so perilous, we definitely played that storm up a lot more. 

But people then think, well, you blew the forecast. We forecasted an ice storm seven days in advance, and we got an ice storm; we just didn't get five-tenths [of an inch of ice] — we got three-tenths.

In my mind, that's a forecast I love to blow. If there's a chance for a tornado and it doesn't happen, thank God. I'm happy. But I do want to get it right, and I want people to understand that just because we didn't get a devastating ice storm doesn't mean that the forecast was as wrong as many people thought.

Q. A lot of people use the weather app that they got when they bought their phone. Is it ever good to rely on that?

We, as meteorologists, hate the stock apps because their whole purpose is quantity, not quality. It's to serve as many forecasts to as many spots as possible. And regardless of how good the information is, my concern is that people think that information is the same as my information.

It's like a fast-food place versus a sit-down restaurant. They both serve food. One's super cheap and easy to get, but the quality is not the same. People kind of get that, but for weather information, they don't. They think it's the same quality, and it's like, no, that app is good to check the current temperatures at a quick glance, but in general, if you have something important [coming up], you're probably not going to want to rely on that. 

Q: How do you see climate change affecting Charlotte specifically?

We used to get an inch or two of rain. Now, it's three or four inches of rain. And in areas like Charlotte, we're kind of in this bad spot where we get a lot of flash flooding already. Climate change has contributed to that, and we're rapidly developing.

We're urbanizing Mecklenburg County, and impervious surfaces are increasing left and right. So we're already in a bad spot for flash flooding, but now you throw in climate change on top of it. I think flooding is going to be our biggest issue.

⚡And now for a lightning round (pun intended):

Today’s supporting sponsor is Landon A. Dunn, attorney-at-law in Matthews:

Interstate 485’s new toll lanes, an 18-mile stretch in south Mecklenburg County that opened to drivers on Feb. 28, are already being used more than the N.C. Department of Transportation initially expected.

Since the express lanes opened about three weeks ago, there’s been an average of 18,000 total transactions and 7,500 unique vehicles during the weekday, according to the N.C. Turnpike Authority, the department within NCDOT that oversees toll-funded transportation projects. Those numbers drop over the weekend to an average of about 5,000 total transactions and 2,700 unique vehicles.

A spokesperson told The Ledger the figures are double the agency’s initial projections.

Right now, pricing is based on the time of day and the day of the week:

Eventually, express lanes will use dynamic pricing, which means that toll prices will fluctuate based on factors like the number of drivers in the express lanes and average speeds. Drivers will be notified about what they will pay on toll pricing signs prior to entering the express lanes.

When asked when dynamic pricing is expected to begin, the spokesperson for the N.C. Turnpike Authority said: “We’ll be happy to provide a timeframe of switching to dynamic pricing when we have an update.”

The $346M I-485 express lane project began construction in 2019. Like many major construction projects, it faced multiple delays before opening last month. —Ashley Fahey

Starting a small business can feel lonely at times. But entrepreneurs have plenty of advantages, too, that can put them ahead of slower-moving large competitors.

Those were some of the takeaways from a small-business sustainability summit last week in SouthPark called “Creating Pathways to Legacy.” The event, hosted by U.S. Bank, drew a couple of hundred business owners who heard from expert panels.

Some of the advice offered at the summit to business owners included:

◼️ Establish financial clarity: Rocio Gonzalez, executive director of the Women’s Business Center of Charlotte, said knowing your business’ finances will help you make data-informed decisions: “When you have business financial clarity, you will know and understand your management and operations, your pricing and your capital options. So financial clarity — knowing your numbers — it's just so simple, but really having financial clarity will help you fully understand your business and how you can grow it.” 

◼️ Get an accountability partner. Adriana McLane, the founder of Fulfilling Strategy, a Charlotte-based consulting company that helps mid-sized distributors with strategic planning, said her business took off after starting to work with someone who kept her on task.

“All the preparation, … it can easily be put on the back burner,” said McLane, who is also on the board of the Charlotte chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, or NAWBO. “One of the best things you can do is get an accountability partner. I got an accountability partner through NAWBO four years ago, and it changed my life. My business more than doubled. And it’s more fun.”

◼️ Build stronger relationships: Building relationships is important, said Christopher Dennis of E-Fix Development Corp., a real estate development company that focuses on underdeveloped neighborhoods.

But instead of relentless networking, consider who might already be in your orbit and develop closer ties with them, he said: “They keep saying, ‘Build good relationships.’ Don't travel miles looking for the right connection. Look to your left. Look to your right. They’re sitting right next to you.”

◼️ Nurture your team: Recognize that some of your greatest assets are the people you work with, said Walter Moore of Insperity, a human resources outsourcing company.

“If you take care of your people, everything else will fall into place,” he said, “because they advocate and you’re protected and you have that culture, and you'll make it if you take care of your people.”

◼️ Take care of yourself: Dr. Jessica Mendelsohn, owner of New South Family Medicine and MedSpa, got a laugh from the crowd when she reminded business owners: “Don’t forget to exercise.”

 —Tony Mecia

It sounds as though there’s not a lot of love lost between Republican former Gov. Pat McCrory and Republican Senate leader Phil Berger, who appears on the verge of losing his Senate seat after a hard-fought and expensive primary.

Berger trails Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page by 23 votes following a machine recount last week and has requested a more detailed recount — which could be a prelude to a court battle.

On his PBS Charlotte talk show, “Unspun,” McCrory on Friday said that Berger is “the most powerful politician in our state” but suggested that he has governed in a way that is unseemly.

“For the last 14 years, Phil Berger has been one of the most dominant figures in state politics,” McCrory said. “He often got his way, regardless of what the governor wanted, me included. … Around Raleigh, lobbyists used to say there was one simple rule: If you wanted to get something done, you wanted Phil Berger on your side, and that often meant donating and hiring former Berger staff members as consultants or lobbyists.”

McCrory also said the $10M spent on supporting Berger in this month’s election came largely from “special interest groups, corporations and political action committees that have benefited from his leadership.” 

Though both Republicans, Berger and McCrory were sometimes at odds when McCrory was governor from 2013 to 2017. McCrory sued the General Assembly during his tenure over its efforts to appoint more members to independent commissions. McCrory served as Charlottte’s mayor from 1995 to 2009.

Friday’s episode of “Unspun” also included former Charlotte City Council members Larken Egleston and Tariq Bokhari joining McCrory to analyze the election results and to preview this year’s U.S. Senate race in North Carolina. The Ledger’s Tony Mecia also discussed those issues with McCrory in a separate segment.

You can watch the full episode online. “Unspun” airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on PBS Charlotte.

➡️ Join us Friday online: PBS Charlotte and The Charlotte Ledger are teaming up this Friday (March 27) at 10 a.m. for a special online session called “Unspun Unscripted,” where viewers can ask McCrory questions directly about the news of the day. Register here (for free).

It was a hard-fought weekend of basketball, and Ledger reader Cooper Wasil with bracket “Coop Knows Hoops_1” leads the pack of 108 entries in The Ledger’s tournament pool.

Out of the 48 tournament games since Thursday, Coop Knows Hoops_1 correctly picked the winners of 41 — including a perfect East Region. I guess he actually does know hoops.

There’s a tie for second between Jeff Heybruck (“Jeff’s Boys”) and David Hepp (“Hepp1’s Picks 1”), followed by a three-way tie for fourth among Rich Campbell (“espnfan8107829610’s Picks 1”), Maureen Krueger (“MOBK”) and Lisa Kelly (“lbspkelly’s Picks 1”).

The top five finishers receive fabulous prizes such as grocery gift cards and elegant Charlotte Ledger pens. (There was no charge to enter.)

Among Ledger staff, Tony Mecia (“BetterWithBacon”) is tied for 18th, while Lindsey Banks (“Lindsey’s Picks”) and Ava Mikeal (“tunalover12’s Picks 1”) are tied for 75th, and Brie Chrisman (“brie.chrisman’s Picks 1”) is tied for 100th. (Ashley Fahey wisely sat this one out.)

The most commonly picked champs in our pool were Duke (38%), Arizona (25%) and Michigan (11%). Sadly, 9% picked Florida, which lost Sunday.

Good luck to all! The games resume Thursday. —Tony Mecia

Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:

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