Bogus Weather Hype

wrote in message
ups.com...

Bob Gardner wrote:
Do they shut down programming, and have a talking head taking calls
from the
local area?

We had a storm that passed through AZ on Mon and Tue that was
generating that kind of hype. "Weather Alert"s every 15 min.
Granted, it was a good sized weather system that brought some much
needed moisture to the region. But, all of the hype was just a bit
over the top. Last night I watched 15 min. of a half-hour newscast
devoted "Storm Coverage". What it really amounted to was the fact that
it rained a few inches in some locations and snowed a few feet on the
tops of the mountains. I think the effect is brought on by what is
called a "slow news day".

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)


John,

Just wait until Monsoon Season 2005 comes around...Cue Dramatic Music

Talk about over the top "reporting."

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

Do they shut down programming, and have a talking head taking calls from
the local area? "We have Joe from Bothell on the line, and he says that
there is a half-inch of snow out there!"

Last night one of our local TV stations began "live coverage" from "Winter
Blast 2005", with reporters standing miserably on street corners with
rulers, measuring the snow depth!

I almost died laughing. What a bunch of maroons!

Storm's over now. We got 9 inches of light, fluffy snow, which took almost
24 hours to fall. If the stupid snow plow crews hadn't been listening to
all the hype about "Winter Blast 2005", they could have easily kept up with
the gentle (if persistent) nature of this snowfall.

But, of course, they "pulled the crews off the roads" overnight (in
anticipation of things getting much worse), and now have to clean it all up
in one fell swoop.

Idiots.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

5 inches here on top of our layer of ice and it's still snowing. The snow
makes it more slippery than before. No plows on the roads YET! A 78 year
old guy was found dead due to a collapse of bridged up salt in a salt
warehouse yesterday. County officials made a huge deal about how they
didn't give him permission to be in the building.

Weird weather brings out weird people with weird ideas.
Jim

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:X0dDd.27396$3m6.20651@attbi_s51...
Do they shut down programming, and have a talking head taking calls from
the local area? "We have Joe from Bothell on the line, and he says that
there is a half-inch of snow out there!"

Last night one of our local TV stations began "live coverage" from "Winter
Blast 2005", with reporters standing miserably on street corners with
rulers, measuring the snow depth!

I almost died laughing. What a bunch of maroons!

Storm's over now. We got 9 inches of light, fluffy snow, which took
almost
24 hours to fall. If the stupid snow plow crews hadn't been listening to
all the hype about "Winter Blast 2005", they could have easily kept up
with
the gentle (if persistent) nature of this snowfall.

But, of course, they "pulled the crews off the roads" overnight (in
anticipation of things getting much worse), and now have to clean it all
up
in one fell swoop.

Idiots.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

Is it just me, or does it seem like weather forecasting has gone off the
deep end?

Yet another reason to be glad I don't watch TV.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

It all depends.
Here in Columbus Ohio, the television stations coverage runs a 60 mile
radius, +/- a few. Thats 120 miles difference in the coverage area.
Two weeks ago, the storm that dropped 10 inches on communities ten miles
west of Interstate 71 coated the communites east of Interstate 71 with
heavy ice. That ice knocked out the power to 300,000 people some for up
to 8 days. The total width of the precipitation band was less than 50
miles. The precipitation tracked southwest to northeast. In the
southwest corner of Ohio, 70 miles away, snowfall ranged from 12 to 20
inches. Again, it was a very narrow band of precipitation.

We have had steady rain for the last three days. The temperature
difference between Columbus and Findlay (40 miles northwest) was 20 degrees.

Ohio has some interesting geographic features which create local weather
effects. Water to the north (Lake Erie), water to the south (Ohio
River), hills to the east, flat land to the north and west. Interstate
70 is commonly a dividing line between dry and precipitation and rain or
snow, or snow and ice.

Do the air heads hype it? Of course. But then again, they are playing to
a broad audience.

TV is called an idiot box for a reason. Toss it out the window.
--
Gene Seibel
Gene & Sue's Aeroplanes - http://pad39a.com/gene/planes.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:CgZCd.620242$wV.514014@attbi_s54...
Is it just me, or does it seem like weather forecasting has gone off the
deep end?

Once again, we've been deluged with "Winter Storm Warnings"

Well, this particular storm may have affected Iowa a little less than they
expected, but it is not *ALL* hype.

St. Louis had almost 2.5 inches of rain in the last 24 hours.
Temperatures in the low thirties all day... just on the lucky side of the
rain-snow boundary, or it would have been two feet of snow. Or freezing
rain.

Indianapolis 1-3/4, equivalent to 8-10 inches snow.

I haven't studied the storm in detail, but 2.5 inches of water in one place
is a *significant* system. And you have the added factor of a rain-snow
boundary and freezing rain possibilities.

Kansas City had freezing rain for more than 12 hours... I don't know how
much or how steady....

Now I agree that it was pretty difficult to see the main storm effects
moving north into Iowa, based on the system setup and the expected direction
of movement of the pressure system... but you *were* on the edge of it, and
a little error in the forecast path might have turned out different.

This is a *significant*, though certainly not an exceptional, storm, and
some concern was warranted. Still is, for the people to the northeast of it
.... LIKE US!!...

I don't see your TV coverage, and I am sure they did overhype it, but don't
let that distract you when the next one comes along.

"Icebound" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:CgZCd.620242$wV.514014@attbi_s54...
Is it just me, or does it seem like weather forecasting has gone off the
deep end?

Once again, we've been deluged with "Winter Storm Warnings"

Well, this particular storm may have affected Iowa a little less than they
expected, but it is not *ALL* hype.

St. Louis had almost 2.5 inches of rain in the last 24 hours.
Temperatures in the low thirties all day... just on the lucky side of the
rain-snow boundary, or it would have been two feet of snow. Or freezing
rain.

Indianapolis 1-3/4, equivalent to 8-10 inches snow.

I haven't studied the storm in detail, but 2.5 inches of water in one
place
is a *significant* system. And you have the added factor of a rain-snow
boundary and freezing rain possibilities.

Kansas City had freezing rain for more than 12 hours... I don't know how
much or how steady....

Now I agree that it was pretty difficult to see the main storm effects
moving north into Iowa, based on the system setup and the expected
direction
of movement of the pressure system... but you *were* on the edge of it,
and
a little error in the forecast path might have turned out different.

This is a *significant*, though certainly not an exceptional, storm, and
some concern was warranted. Still is, for the people to the northeast of
it
... LIKE US!!...

I don't see your TV coverage, and I am sure they did overhype it, but
don't
let that distract you when the next one comes along.


It's winter in the Midwest. Snow and ice are the norm and sometimes it's
rain, that's why it is called winter. Several inches or even a foot of snow
hardly qualifies as a "storm."

"Dave Stadt" wrote in message
. ..

"Icebound" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:CgZCd.620242$wV.514014@attbi_s54...
Is it just me, or does it seem like weather forecasting has gone off
the
deep end?

Once again, we've been deluged with "Winter Storm Warnings"

Well, this particular storm may have affected Iowa a little less than
they
expected, but it is not *ALL* hype.

....snip...
This is a *significant*, though certainly not an exceptional, storm, and
some concern was warranted. Still is, for the people to the northeast of
it
... LIKE US!!...



It's winter in the Midwest. Snow and ice are the norm and sometimes it's
rain, that's why it is called winter. Several inches or even a foot of
snow
hardly qualifies as a "storm."



Maybe not..., but it depends on your perspective... Give it any name you
want, but nine inches at O'hare does appear to quality as "significant".
Even if you can call it the "norm", it still qualifies as worthy of warning
of widespread disruption:

http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/top...006103936.html

"Icebound" wrote in message
...

"Dave Stadt" wrote in message
. ..

"Icebound" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:CgZCd.620242$wV.514014@attbi_s54...
Is it just me, or does it seem like weather forecasting has gone off
the
deep end?

Once again, we've been deluged with "Winter Storm Warnings"

Well, this particular storm may have affected Iowa a little less than
they
expected, but it is not *ALL* hype.

...snip...
This is a *significant*, though certainly not an exceptional, storm,
and
some concern was warranted. Still is, for the people to the northeast
of
it
... LIKE US!!...



It's winter in the Midwest. Snow and ice are the norm and sometimes
it's
rain, that's why it is called winter. Several inches or even a foot of
snow
hardly qualifies as a "storm."



Maybe not..., but it depends on your perspective... Give it any name you
want, but nine inches at O'hare does appear to quality as "significant".
Even if you can call it the "norm", it still qualifies as worthy of
warning
of widespread disruption:

http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/top...006103936.html


"A winter storm that put much of the Midwest in the dark inched its way east
Thursday, spreading a treacherous mix of freezing rain and snow from the
Great Lakes to New England"

This article from CBS is what you use to defend yourself? You have got to
be kidding. The article is a joke. I live in the Midwest and heard of no
power outages. It was simply a winter snow that dropped less than a foot of
snow in 24 hours. There was no widespread disruption. Of course O'Hare
gets screwed up. What airline in their right mind would pick a Midwest
airport as a hub?