The NWS has done a disservice, what???
http://firekatie.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=29
The poster there is saying that the NWS has done a disservice because they broadcast so many severe t-storm warnings.
I've done made a reply. I swear..
MGM is a condition where the population of a specific area tends to forget anything that happens with the weather after a few days. A tornado hits a town at night and kills 20 people, within 2 weeks anyone not affected by it blows it off (when they are affected by it, folks tend to wise up a bit). The first significant snowfall of the year, even mere inches (I think people in Michigan can certainly verify this), and what happens? People end up in the ditch or in a car accident because their car lost control, and its the same thing every year.
MGM can be countered partially with attempting to increase public awareness of why watches/warnings/advisories are issued, as well as to the dangers that can be posed by severe or inclement weather. Ask your meteorologist if increased public awareness is right for your community :P.
How many times have outdoor warning sirens been activated, yet no tornado damage occurs in the immediate vicinity? While you and I understand what's going on, John Q. Public assumes no tornado damage must mean there never really was a threat in the first place. Allow this "shampoo - rinse - repeat" cycle to continue for ten or twenty years and when the real thing hits people are caught with their pants down.
I really wish the NWS and/or other outreach groups would make a more concerted effort to make the public understand that every severe or tornado warned storm is not going to be followed by damage within every square mile covered by the warning, but that the threat is imminent and you life and/or propery COULD be in danger and you SHOULD take action to prevent said unfortune.
On a serious note, they really should fire Katie Horner, she's not a nice person in "real" life. On February 28th, I couldn't help but notice they had some "Amy" chick running all over the viewing area, and the best she could find was some pea-sized hail in Louisburg. Also, KCTV 5 continuously ran an ad, taking credit for storm chasers reports for the 3-12-06 tornado that narrowly missed Marshall, MO.
This is a true story from just a few years ago. It was a day when an outbreak of severe weather and tornadoes were forecasted. It was early in the afternoon when I was getting ready to head out, my dad being his typical self said that it was stupid to go storm chasing and that nothing was going to happen.
The day in question? May 4th, 2003. The same day my dad told me nothing would happen, an F4 tornado developed 7 miles from my house, traveled NE and destroyed Franklin, KS. In fact, it destroyed my brother's in-laws house. A day when many communities in both SE Kansas and SW Missouri were hit hard by very large and destructive tornadoes, and yet it was earlier that same day when my dad was telling me nothing would happen.
I would've thought that after 5/3/99 and now after the recent sad events of Enetrprise, AL and Campus, GA, that alot of people would've been a bit more aware of when a tornado siren is sounding, that it's time for them to take cover in the basement, bathtub or storm cellar, (After all, it's not like a mile wide beast, is going to stand there and wait for everyone to move, nor is it going to pick up a phone to say "I'M COMING TO GET YOU!!!!!!" :) lol) but like Steve has said, this is not the case and I feel that there should be more public education on severe weather, but good, accurate and easy to follow information :)
I looked on youtube yesterday, and there was a video clip from a news channel describing how tornadoes form, and I couldn't believe a few of the things that they goofed up on, and as I was watching, I was thinking to myself, "How are these people on the air?", they classified a mesocyclone as a type of severe thunderstorm, instead of being part of a supercell, and they stated that the main dangers during a supercell was Thunder, Lightning, etc, but someone forgot to tell them that Thunder is the aftershock effect of a lightning strike :) lol
In the end of the day, we can only try our best, as we're all only human :)
Willie
I saw the thread and I think it is rediculous. What if a tornado had hit a big city? It's always best to be safe than sorry.
*scratches head*
Sarcasm detector broken? lol
I think they might have closed the thread or something, unless the entire forum is dead. I posted a few times, but gave up on trying to explain the situation to them anymore. They don't want to see it any way other than their own.
Although, I've seen on many local WFO web pages that the NWS will transition to simply polygon warnings this fall which will hopefully cut down on the amount of people that claim that the weather service "cries wolf".
Of course, meteorologists always get a bad rap. If I had a dime for every time I've heard "well that's a great job, you can be wrong all the time and still get paid" I'd be rich - and I haven't been actively pursuing the career for more than a few years. Many people just simply cannot appreciate the complexity of forecasting and how difficult it really is. However, I've noticed that the people I have sat down with and discussed just a few of the basic things seem to say "wow, I had no idea there was so much involved in forecasting".
So I guess the bottom line is people will always whine about how much meteorologists are wrong until that one day when they are given life-saving warning...then they tend to change their tune. We just have to learn to deal with it! :D
AJL
/Can we get a new dead horse? This one is worn out.
Numerous times over the years I've called to warn family and friends about tornadic supercells heading for their house. They almost never take me seriously (with one exception) and just shrug it off because they don't want to disrupt their daily lives, or their primetime TV show, or whatever it is they are doing. They basically think that they are immune to tornadoes for whatever ridiculous reason.
Event 1)
A major outbreak of significant tornadoes was literally unfolding just after dark. One of the supercells was heading straight for a couple who are dear to me, with a history of producing tornadoes and confirmed damage & injuries mind you! They shrugged this off saying, "Oh, they never hit us, we're in-between two hills, ect..". I couldn't believe it. I told them to get in the basement, hang out for a few minutes, and I'll call in 15 min. I wasn't asking for 3 hours, just half a TV show. Seriously, 30 years ago people would have begged for such a valuable, personal tornado warning. Nope, not them. But I guess I forgot most people are weather experts and immune to tornadoes...
Lucky for them that night the supercell cycled and the new meso was developing as it raced over their county...practically right over them. It produced a tornado in the county to their east. Talk about freakin luck. And what do I get in return, "I told you we'd be fine, you worry too much". Give me a break! They never realize how close they come to a disaster until it actually happens. (This is the same night some town east of Memphis got destroyed)
Example 2)
This is the most recent incident that upset me to the point of insanity. It was the day of the Enterprise, Alabama tornado. One of the tornadic supercells crossed into Georgia and was literally making a b-line towards my girlfriend's grandmother's house. We had to call her mother to get a hold her grandmother, to simply tell her "turn on your TV", because she's not into technology.
We told her mom there was a storm with strong rotation and tornado warning, likely with a tornado on the ground, heading straight for grandma. She acted like it was nothing and didn't even call grandma! This storm showed strong rotation until it entered her county, and then cycled - only depicting weak rotation - and then strong rotation returned 2 radar scans later. A tornado warning was literally cancelled and then re-issued in less than 15 minutes as this storm raced northeast at 45mph! Another close call, but my girlfriend's mom thinks my girlfriend and I are nuts, having no idea the severity of the situation. Unbelievable!
If you're read this far you now know that even some people that know me(meteorologist/storm chaser) don't head my warning when I feel the situation is serious! Some people just don't care...
Doesn't sound like Katie has a good reputation though, I can't really comment about her though because I've never seen her on TV.
On March 12 2006 as Springfield, IL was being hit some of you remember that the radio station I work for did continuous live coverage on air, and via the internet (I remember some of you were listening).
Anyway, a couple people called in and complained saying that the storm wasn't affecting them and that they were bored and wanted regular programming back. My boss mentioned we were going off the air once the storm had weakened but "not because of the irrate callers that we have recieved". Almost immidiately after this, the phone lines lit up with people calling to commend us for the coverage, and dissing the other whiners. The majority of people respect and appreciate the live and up to date coverage the NWS and media provide, but there will always be the select few whiners who want nothing of the sort. Those are always the people who "had no warning" when the tornado hits their home.
Now aren't those also aerodynamic modifications? (like in golf ball)
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
-Douglas Adams
It just amazes me how stupid some people in this world are."Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."
-Robert Heinlein
"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
-Bertrand Russell
"The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race."
-Don Marquis
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
-Albert Einstein
"We had no warning" = "we weren't paying attention to the weather"
Unless it's the dead of night or you're deaf and blind, there's no reason to be surprised by severe weather. I don't care who says what, there is no excuse. Every person in the world with a television, radio, or computer has access to the exact same info chasers do. They just don't care.
The public is generally apathetic to anything that doesn't affect them directly. For entertainment and ratings, weather is pushed, both stories on it and competition leading to coverage of actual events, and given given the melodramatic crap it's no wonder people are tuning it out.
As for the NWS criticism in this case, that doesn't even merit comment. I do, however, advocate raising the severe criteria (at the very least for hail).
"Gentlemen, we got 20 calls about the David Hyde-Pierce incident. And as you know, one call equals a billion people, which means 20 billion people were offended by this. Needless to say, something must be done."
- FCC Suit #1; Family Guy 4.14 "PTV"
Sounded familiar to me, anyway...
I have articulated though to many friends and family that if I ever see something exceptionally dangerous that I would give them a call. I probably wouldn't call for any old severe thunderstorm but when you start getting the siggy svr stuff (golfball sized hail or 75 mph winds) that's when I'd call. Also, I'd definately call for strong rotation or a tornado. But the past few posters make me wonder how seriously they'd take me. I sure hope they would realize that if I'm making a concerted effort to track them down and tell them to seek shelter that the situation is pretty dangerous. I'd like to think I have pretty good judgement in those short-fused type situations so I sure hope people would listen to me! Then again, even when I tell my parents that there is an increased risk of severe weather on a certain day or we're under a tornado watch they seem to just shrug it off as if it's any regular day.
And people who just flat out ignore tornado warnings baffle me. What would possess someone to do this?
AJL
This is 100% true. Even here in Canada many still believe that 4 seasons tires will do the job at 0 F. And this even if it was proven that more than 50% of winter deadly car accidents would have been avoided by simply wearing winter tires. There is a legislation pending about the obligation of using winter tires from December to March.
The point is: people only take safe habits if they are forced to. Most of them relatively respect speed limits because going faster cost $$$. They will go onto highway in the blizzard unless the highway is closed.
The average John Q in fact just wants to keep the same way of life. Taking shelter is boring and make him miss his activities. He then just forgets about the warning.
In fact people want OTHERS to take care of their safety. If they get hit by severe weather, it is because SOMEONE ELSE didn't do his job. You can see the same with homeland security: they want somebody to do his job right BUT DON'T TOUCH TO THEIR LIBERTY AND/OR PRIVACY. (Can't speak for USA but this debate was running in Canada: people are scared that authorities will go listent to their phone and listen to their personnal life, like if John Q's life was so interesting).
This is the way people are.
You cant prevent every death due to weather BUT... I strongly feel a majority of weather related deaths are preventable and happen to stupid people who ignore warnings. Most people that drowned in floods do so because they drove through rushing waters. To be honest thats too bad. you ignored the warnings and now you get to pay the penalty.. Maybe thats a cold way to look at it but as they say "you cant fix stupid". I dont have alot of sympathy for people who die or get injured after ignoring warnings. I do have sympathy for people who tried to take shelter but things happened anyway.
If this guy hates the wx coverage and being interupted or woken up in the midle of the night let him change the channel or turn his wx radio off and suffer the consequences. All that will happen is we will be cleaning out the gene pool a little bit :)
Another thing.....I turned my XM off, and tuned into local FM radio stations for 30 minutes leading up to the Dumas tornado, and NOT ONE radio station was broadcasting the tornado warning, let alone a live broadcast of any kind. I even made the comment on video, that I was shocked at the ignorance and failure to take this situation seriously. I left the radio on "scan" for over 10 minutes, until I couldn't take it anymore, then left it with a station that broadcast out of Little Rock, and FINALLY heard the tornado warning mentioned. This was unreal.
So in summary, radio and TV stations that DO broadcast live get knocked, but radio and TV stations that fail to provide news and safety options to their listeners should be taken off the air. I just wonder if ANYONE may have been saved from injury, or possible death, had some radio station bothered to tell them this is serious. But.....until people take these sirens seriously, maybe the first step would be more public eduation...who knows?
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inserito da jane il 14 March 2010
