The unofficial hurricane Katia thread

[fivehundred2go]

When will the doom and gloom go full throttle - again.

[Frank Capua]

When will the doom and gloom go full throttle - again.

Has the Media given us any reason to think they've changed?

[Truth Detector]

Interesting that there was more attention paid by the media to what MIGHT have happened on the coast than what DID happen inland from Irene.

[Frank Capua]

Interesting that there was more attention paid by the media to what MIGHT have happened on the coast than what DID happen inland from Irene.

You're suggesting that Anderson Cooper might have gotten a better story if instead of hanging out on the wharf in Lower Manhattan had hung out on an old covered Bridge in Vermont?

I agree that his cameraman would have gotten better video.

[midtown]

Where's the official thread?

[Frank Capua]

Where's the official thread?

We're just waiting for the tents to be set up.

[Neshaminy]

It's relevance is directly tied to it's approach to the Bad Apple.......

[comfortably numb]

People complaining about the media has gotten almost as tiring as the media itself.

[Ren Butler]

People complaining about the media has gotten almost as tiring as the media itself.

No kidding. The media have serious problems, but in this case, Irene caused 45+ deaths and $7 billion+ in damage. Some of the major metros got the bulk of the attention and weathered the storm quite well, but Irene caused great amounts of chaos in several places removed from the metros. I pointed out in another thread that a storm doesn't have to be an Andrew or a Katrina in order to be an extremely serious threat.

That said, I've read a couple post-mortems about Irene that I found interesting. In summary, it seems our ability to predict the path of tropical storms is strong, and the timing of the storms is pretty good -- but the ability to predict the intensity of the storms hasn't improved in decades. In other words, when your job is to predict the future, the product is necessarily going to have a great deal of uncertainty with it. And you can't wait until the worst-case scenario happens to start reporting on it.

[mstove]

No kidding. The media have serious problems, but in this case, Irene caused 45+ deaths and $7 billion+ in damage. Some of the major metros got the bulk of the attention and weathered the storm quite well, but Irene caused great amounts of chaos in several places removed from the metros. I pointed out in another thread that a storm doesn't have to be an Andrew or a Katrina in order to be an extremely serious threat.

That said, I've read a couple post-mortems about Irene that I found interesting. In summary, it seems our ability to predict the path of tropical storms is strong, and the timing of the storms is pretty good -- but the ability to predict the intensity of the storms hasn't improved in decades. In other words, when your job is to predict the future, the product is necessarily going to have a great deal of uncertainty with it. And you can't wait until the worst-case scenario happens to start reporting on it.

Agree completely. This hurricane did plenty of damage, just not in the most populated areas. People were so ready for the coast to get demolished that all the inland damage has seemed more minor than it was. My brother just got power back last night and he is in Maine where they didn't really get a lot of damage.

To be fair, "the media" would get killed if a hurricane pounded a population center like NY and every outlet didn't have a strong presence there. Several years ago, an F4/F5 (there was some debate and I don't recall the final number...I think 4) tornado blew through my hometown about ten miles south of where I live now. The next day several of the network news broadcasts originated from there and all of them had significant coverage of the area and the rest of WI that had been pounded. The next day, they were gone and the storm only got a few brief mentions nationally after that. Had that tornado hit a major metro area it would have had coverage for weeks. The difference in coverage is completely reasonable based on the number of people impacted. Heck, I was surprised to see camera crews (and anchors) in the area.

[PHJIndy]

When will the doom and gloom go full throttle - again.

You compassion is underwhelming!