Weather and the Weather Channel
I spent Wednesday watching the Weather Channel’s reporting of Hurricane Idalia’s progress up the west coast of Florida. I congratulate the Channel for their excellent coverage. They had 11 crews out in various places reporting on conditions. How do I know? Because they told me about 4 times an hour. “We have 11 crews in 8 states bringing you the latest coverage and National Weather Service Forecasts”. I was mesmerized from 10AM to 5PM. When my lovely wife got home at 5:15PM she asked what was happening? I told her Idalia was a cat 3 Hurricane when it came ashore around Cedar Key in the Big Bend area and then turned northeast and went through Georgia and North and South Carolina reaching the Atlantic. She looked at me like I had 2 heads. “You DO KNOW that the storm is still south of Tampa and won’t make landfall until tomorrow morning, right?” Now I looked at her like SHE had 2 heads. And then it dawned on me. The charts and graphics were so good and the talking so monotonous that I was convinced it was all over by 5PM Wednesday.
And sure enough, she was right. This morning those 11 crews (actually, they stopped saying the number, so it’s probably 4) were reporting trees falling in Perry, Florida, and flooding in Georgia ahead of the storm. For 15 minutes, I watch a grove of oak trees with about 3 million other viewers just to hear the CRACK and see huge limbs fall. Clearwater Beach is a barrier island. They are called Barrier Islands for one reason: they act as barriers to storm water surges. Unfortunately, we usually build expensive houses and restaurants and marinas on them. It does make for good television and what surprises me is William Shatner hasn’t carved out a place for his unique staccato narration. “WHY do these storms form, HOW do they navigate, WHERE will they make landfall – WE – JUST – DON’T – KNOW.”
God Bless and Goodluck to all in the danger areas. Keep your batteries dry.
kongoboken 