Have the Weather Channel and rest of media overhyped Irene?
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Have the Weather Channel and rest of media overhyped Irene?
Wow. Hurricane Irene -- or maybe Tropical Storm Irene to any New Yorkers reading this -- hasn't hit the Northeast yet. But already -- and yes, I'm mixing my catastrophe metaphors here -- the fallout has begun. News that the sustained winds of what some have billed as "the storm of the century" or "the East Coast's Katrina" have already dipped below 100 mph before the storm even makes its first landfall in North Carolina have sparked what you might call Friday Night Quarterbacking.
Consider what one expert wrote tonight:
The demise of Irene has already begun. There is no visible eye. The storm intensity is down to 99 mph. This would be a low-end category 2 or a strong category 1 storm, while 36 hours ago some predicted a catastrophic category 4 storm. Air Force Reserve aircraft have found that Irene's eyewall has collapsed, and the central pressure has risen -- rising pressure means a weakening storm.
Already on social networks and elsewhere, there's a growing chorus of complainers that the storm has been overhyped, and many are blaming the media -- specifically the Weather Channel, a for-profit venture that flourishes on weather misery -- for overdramatizing the storm for TV ratings and the dollars that flow with that. It's not just bloggers in pajamas in their mother's basement who are griping; even the Washington Post has joined the crowd of pre-Irene skeptics. It specifically went after the Weather Channel:.
While expressing great admiration for Weather Channel hurricane expert Bryan Norcross, Ryan calls “pretty apocalyptic” his vision for the course of Irene.
Weather watchers with the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang pronounce a similar skepticism. Gang member Dan Stillman: “It’s not going to be unprecedented for North Carolina or even the mid-Atlantic. And given that it will probably be no worse than a low-to-mid-end Category 1 when it gets to New York City, it’s not going to be their Katrina — even though significant flooding and damaging winds are possible, both inland and especially toward the coast, in both the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast.”
So...are the skeptics right? Is Irene going to be the hurricane/tropical storm equivalent of all hat and no cattle? My answer is something that seems impossible for anyone living in the 21st Century: Let's just wait and see! It's already clear that Irene won't be the Cat 3 or even Cat 4 monster some were hyping a day or two ago; on the other hand, some otherwise unmemorable, no-name storms have been known to cause lengthy power outages, dangerous downed trees, and basement flooding in my neck of the woods. I'm preparing for those things -- which are pretty bad, "East Coast Katrina" or no "East Coast Katrina" -- to happen again this weekend. So should you.
Still, it will be a big problem, in my opinion, if we wake up Monday morning and learn that Irene was hugely overhyped. Why? Because some day in this century, there really will be "the storm of the century." But if the public officials who ended up looking silly with their hair-trigger evacuations and cancellations of everything from trains to baseball games issue the exact same warnings then, will anyone listen to them -- or the Weather Channel?
- I'd love to be the 911 operator in that case. I would tell the caller that Helen Stader is in charge. If he wants rescue, he can go to Helen Stader.
— DonQ - Not as much as the IPCC has overhyped the threat of the changing climate.— Joe Funk
- Not to worry, the great Messiah has everything under control. I'm sure Will has a private line for the latest info.— dogman5
- The damage in dollars will be worse than katrina. Katrina demolished the worst ghetto in one of the poorest cities in the country, all in all no big loss. This storm is cutting a huge swath through some of the most expensive (and well insured) real estate in the country.— bcsk
- What is so wonderful about the anonymity of the internet, as opposed to letters written to editors with actual names of the sender is the demonstration of the width and depth of the stupidity of so many posters, in particular the animus toward theoretical science in this country, although the same moronic posters will be the first to take the latest medicines or get a hip or knee replacement or get a shot in their eye for macular degeneration or opt for a host of other cures, all brought about by the practical application of theoretical science, based on experiment and observation. Climate change is a reality, no matter how many Republicans deny it, evolution is a reality, no matter how many Republicans deny it. Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin are idiots, no matter how many Republicans deny it. We should embrace science, not denounce it! As for this storm, always better to be safe than sorry, even with some overhyping.— chuckw
- Chucky cut back on the caffine, anyone that thinks the storm is overrated, look out your window now. Pretty bad and it will be worse overnight. I feel sad for the people that wait for the government to take care of them. just get the big boy pants— TKL008
- Çelik Kapı Kayseri (HTML deleted)— Celik Kapi
- LOL! Two midgets in the field of meteorology, John Bolaris and Hurricane Schwartz, compared Irene to Floyd. Can we run the former guy out a second time?— lefty
- I don't want to make light because people did die and there is flooding, damage, homes wrecked, and alot of people with no power but with that said, yes, it was overhyped. Some of these reporters should be ashamed of themselves.— Murrayman
- Seems like the "overhype" kept most of the fools doing their tomfoolery in the middle of the storm to a minimum. Not all. A few of them got themselves stuck in cars being swept away by the waters and a couple died. Pity.— DonQ
- Rather have it over hyped than under informed people running around getting killed or people not evacuating their homes and be stranded without food, water, electricity or drown in their own homes.— DavidAG
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