Tampa Bay Forecast Interrupted by Anchor Playing Pokemon GO

During Tampa Bay 10 News’ weather segment, a stray anchor interrupted the forecast by walking across the greenscreen set. The catch? She was playing Pokemon GO.

In the video we clearly see the anchor — who appears to be Allison Kropff — walk right in front of the live cameras while holding her mobile phone. While we can’t quite see what she is doing on the phone, weather anchor Bobby Deskins informs the viewers (and his coworkers) that she was distracted while trying to catch a Pokemon in Pokemon GO. He then warns viewers at home that they should watch their surroundings while playing the mobile app.

Regardless of whether or not this scene was scripted, Bobby’s advice should be followed. While there have been many hoax reports of accidents and other shenanigans in the past week, there have been verified reports of robberies coordinated by using the mobile app. As such, parents should inform their children of safety precautions while playing the game. Of course, these same rules apply to the older players as well.

Still, it’s good to know that there are all sorts of players partaking in Pokemon adventures nowadays, especially now that we can play Pokemon in an augmented reality setting. That said, we’re still waiting for you to take the next step of using genetic manipulation to create real life Pokemon, Nintendo!

Pokemon GO was released in the United States on June 6th, 2016.