Memphis meteorologist eviscerates critics of station breaking in during Florida-Auburn with tornado updates

As Florida mounted a comeback against Auburn in Saturday’s Final Four matchup, severe weather hit the Memphis area. That’s when WREG-TV had to break in with an update – and a meteorologist had a fierce response to fans criticizing the move.

With less than four minutes to go in what was a one-point game at the time, WREG-TV had a picture-in-picture going. The basketball game was in the bigger box while the radar was in the smaller one as heavy rain and tornadoes were bearing down on the area. Per FCC guidelines, news networks have to break in with tornado warnings in their markets.

The meteorologist, Tyler Eliasen, saw the messages from viewers hoping to simply watch the Final Four. He made it clear the station didn’t hesitate to break in, citing the devastation and deaths as a result of the storms.

WREG weather guy does NOT want to hear your complaints that they’re not playing the sound on the game. pic.twitter.com/c0tVcT80WU

— Geoff Calkins (@geoff_calkins) April 6, 2025

“I don’t want to hear one more comment about why we’re covering up the volume of the game,” Eliasen said, via The Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins. “You can see the game. You’re going to have to deal with my voice and then just deal with it again because we lost several people. Several people died Wednesday night and potentially this is saving someone’s life in Dumas right now.

“This is still not in that path, not there yet, should I say, but it is a significant tornado, a confirmed tornado and it was very violent going into New Albany, Mississippi. So we’re going to track this. It is what it is. Send me some emails later and we can chat more but this is what it is right now. Deal with it.”

Storms have been in the area for several days, and multiple deaths and injuries have been reported, according to the Commercial Appeal. The National Weather Service also issued a flood watch that runs through Sunday morning because of the flooding that could come Saturday to parts of the Mid-South.

The NWS then issued a flash flood emergency for Memphis, Shelby County and DeSoto County in effect until 8:15 p.m. CT, according to The Commercial Appeal. Saturday’s Florida vs. Auburn game ended around 7:45 p.m. CT, meaning covered continued on news channels until the end of the Gators’ victory.

“This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order,” the NWS emergency alert read.