
I’m not sure which local weather outfit to pick on first. I usually get all the weather news I need by looking out the window.
I actually make an effort not to watch the weather portion of local TV. My channel flipping habits are to move on to another station every time I see another spot for a personal injury lawyer or the weather. I am aware that stats show that weather is very popular among viewers, and that ACTUAL severe weather merits the lead story on a newscast.
But yesterday I was hearing about the impending storm ALL DAY, and wondered how that could be. It was sunny most of the afternoon.
But then I picked up my son Luke, who reported on his day at school and what I thought was incredible news. Because of the overblown weather reports and FEAR OF RAIN, Noe Middle School canceled all after-school activities. I kid you not. Even indoor activities were canceled, all because Kevin Harned and other weather forecasters were Twittering and Facebooking and talking on TV about this big storm that could possibly hit town in the afternoon.
Harned said today that there was plenty of severe weather in the area, and that he did warn viewers to move their cars in case a hailstorm hit where they were. He said the forecast was correct — and that there actually were scattered storms in the area and the biggest threat was hail.
It wasn’t just Harned (who posted more than 3 dozen tweets about severe weather yesterday). Jay Cardosi’s blog (where he posts “meso-data” in aggravating ALL CAPS rather than translating into actual recognizable language) predicted the storms would be severe. I’m certain I’ll hear about it if somebody actually got the forecast right yesterday, but I’ll just assume everyone in the weather biz got it wrong , then offered no apology or excuse for the sunny skies.
UPDATE: I’m not trying to start a war with weather folks, who yesterday were simply doing their job and who have gotten in touch with me to clarify that their forecasts were accurate in predicting scattered storms and hail. I guess the fact that the storms missed where I was caused my reaction. Along with my sons’ news about canceling activities at Noe.
The point is that TV station managers, so fearful the competition is going to get a jump on a weather situation, needlessly strike fear into the community over the appearance of clouds on fancy weather equipment. Unfortunately, some of those with responsibility for events and activities listen. And are so scared they’re going to be blamed if something goes wrong, they react by canceling things.
Yesterday, it was supposed to rain. It didn’t. Monty, Jay, Paul, Kevin — Please quit breaking into programming and freaking out every time your Doppler images line up and show a possibility of a storm.
As for Luke’s school, the level of over-reaction is mind-boggling. I don’t know the whole story, but I hate to think that school officials are monitoring these forecasts to decide whether or not to have field hockey practice. Because they are frequently WRONG.
Worst-case scenario — somebody gets wet.