It seems that, much like the rest of the news and media, that weather has become as sensationalized as anything else. And it's really becoming pretty annoying, and I think could have a detrimental effect on how people perceive the warnings given out by weather outlets.
No longer do you have the weather report, you have LIVE CHANNEL 3 HD STORM TRACK....even on a sunny day.
The recent stories about flooding in Memphis were so overblown, it's unbelievable. I am from Memphis originally, and I had several people asking me if everyone was okay, how are they getting by, etc. The water barely covered a small section of one river-side street. I think a couple of houses on Mud Island had some flooding. But if you looked at the news reports coming out, with the news teams in their waders, you would think the city was a modern-day Atlantis...buried forever under feet of water.
But what really gets me is the tornado reporting. Tornado tracking has become MUCH better in recent years and is really making it much easier to warn of upcoming events. But it seems that there are no longer tornado watches, which serve to alert people to the possibility. It seems now that there are only tornado warnings, which used to mean that a tornado was actually spotted and that you needed to immediately take cover.
I was watching the news the other night and they must have reported 30 different times "Folks! There is a tornado ON THE GROUND right here!!" How did they know this? Their radar showed some rotation that could possibly indicate a tornado. The results? There were no actual tornados, damage, or injuries that night, even though you would have thought the city was being destroyed. Last night, I read an article about a tornado in midtown Memphis yesterday. Since my family lives in midtown Memphis, I obviously quickly looked into it. No damage, and no injuries...so was there a tornado or not?
Of course I think that people need to be warned of bad weather coming...it's the only reason the death rate from severe storms has dropped so much in the last century. But if you keep making apocalyptic claims for every storm that blows through, people will stop listening after a while. And then we are right back where we started.
Weather reporting should not be a ratings grab.
No longer do you have the weather report, you have LIVE CHANNEL 3 HD STORM TRACK....even on a sunny day.
The recent stories about flooding in Memphis were so overblown, it's unbelievable. I am from Memphis originally, and I had several people asking me if everyone was okay, how are they getting by, etc. The water barely covered a small section of one river-side street. I think a couple of houses on Mud Island had some flooding. But if you looked at the news reports coming out, with the news teams in their waders, you would think the city was a modern-day Atlantis...buried forever under feet of water.
But what really gets me is the tornado reporting. Tornado tracking has become MUCH better in recent years and is really making it much easier to warn of upcoming events. But it seems that there are no longer tornado watches, which serve to alert people to the possibility. It seems now that there are only tornado warnings, which used to mean that a tornado was actually spotted and that you needed to immediately take cover.
I was watching the news the other night and they must have reported 30 different times "Folks! There is a tornado ON THE GROUND right here!!" How did they know this? Their radar showed some rotation that could possibly indicate a tornado. The results? There were no actual tornados, damage, or injuries that night, even though you would have thought the city was being destroyed. Last night, I read an article about a tornado in midtown Memphis yesterday. Since my family lives in midtown Memphis, I obviously quickly looked into it. No damage, and no injuries...so was there a tornado or not?
Of course I think that people need to be warned of bad weather coming...it's the only reason the death rate from severe storms has dropped so much in the last century. But if you keep making apocalyptic claims for every storm that blows through, people will stop listening after a while. And then we are right back where we started.
Weather reporting should not be a ratings grab.
