So quit telling us, “We’re here for you.” and, “We know storms are scary. We’ll keep you up to date.” and just tell us what is going on, and what’s going to happen! Assholes.
St. Louis got some freezing rain yesterday, and is getting some more this morning, and will get a foot or more of snow later today. KMOV has reporters stationed at the interstates, where traffic is moving well due to massive treatments. But they are not reporting at all on the side streets, which are probably very bad already, and if all people see on TV is traffic moving on the freeways, they’ll think it’s safe to leave home! Do some actual reporting, you jerks.
And it’s nice that you’re partnering with a radio station, so if the power goes out, you’ll “still be here for me.” Too bad most people don’t have transistor radios these days.
Most of all, stop telling me every two minutes that you’re my friend, and you’re watching out for me. Just report the fucking weather.
(Bonus pitting for the VPN at work, which has locked up my laptop.)
Yep, this kind of thing drives me crazy. One of our local news stations is diligent enough to give us “extended team coverage” and their tagline is “Keeping YOu Ahead of the Storm” whenever there’s more than an inch of snow forecasted and then afterwards they run a bunch of self-congratulatory ads saying how diligent they were to keep a running total of each snowflake that fell.
So yeah, you get five reporters standing around in the snow like idiots, a “chief meteorologist” rubbing a huge meteorological boner, and a huge song & dance that does nothing to help those of us who have to slog through the weather to get to work anyway.
Oh, well, six months from now they’ll be all like “IT’S THE MIDDLE OF JULY AND OMFG IT’S TEH HAWTT OUT!!!11!!!”
Bad weather is a godsend for local news, which fantasizes that they magically become relevant as a result.
It is necessary to hype bad weather to the max under the impression that everyone will be glued to their TVs, and hugely grateful to the ParanoiaStormTeam for keeping them informed.
I stick almost exclusively to Internet weather sources. Same (or better) info, much less hysteria.
At least they’re giving you something. What drives me nuts is when something inclement hits and The Weather Channel is locked in to some hour long Storm Stories about what happened in '62.
I just opened the curtains, and a few people are actually driving in to work. (I can see my office’s building from my apartment.) I hope they get home OK.
Here in Buffalo, one gets a little jaded. Our general rule is: take the low end of any snow forecast, and divide by two for the real forecast.
Although there’s also a different standard here. Earlier this year the National Weather Service forecast a 6-8 inch snowfall and laconically described it as “not a significant weather event.”
North Texas got hit with ice in the wee hours of this morning. It was very well predicted. I had already decided that if the roads were icy, I would just stay home today.
When my clock radio went off at 4:30, the Dallas “News Radio” station were in full-blown crises mode. They were “there for me”. For 2-1/2 hours, it was nothing but school closings, reports of icy roads, and temperature updates. I guess that approach works for someone who only turns on the radio for 10 minutes while they’re getting dressed, but it occurred to me that they didn’t cover any other stories for over two hours.
Don’t forget, the live “on-the-scene” report from the station employee that is stuck in traffic on the High-Five overpass. Who would have suspected that cars would spin out on icy bridges? That’s important news.
We’re getting the same crap from our reporters too. But I can see their point. If they can scare you then they know you will keep watching.
I drove 20 miles to work this morning and it only took me about 15 minutes longer.
I’m heading back home in a little while and I’m sure it will take me 30 minutes longer to get home. An inconvenience but not something that is dire.
It’s blowing hard and snowing hard so it could very well be a white-out situation this afternoon. I’ll be so frightened at that point I might just take a nap.
Living in SoCal we rarely get sever weather or weather reports, but I just saw the national news reporting on what the Midwest was about to receive. I have to admit, it’s somewhat scary thinking about people having to go out in that mess. What does the average person do when this happens? Is it business as usual or do you take some time off and stay home?
Morganstern: It depends. There’s snow and then there’s snow. Most of the time we go about life as usual, a little slower, and it’s annoying as crap but no big deal (unless you’re one of the unfortunates who has a heart attack while shoveling, or maybe falls in their backyard and dies of the cold). When it gets to the point where roads aren’t easily passable and you could just become part of the problem by going out there, then you start considering how bitchy your boss is/how vital it is that you be at work, etc.
The National Weather Service is forecasting 18"+ of snow for Chicago within 24 hours, 40+ mph winds, and flooding along the lakefront from huge waves, so we’re taking this more seriously than the usual “lots of snow” forecasts. I work in a big medical center so I was expecting to be in tomorrow, but barring any major medical disaster event (where all available personnel would be called in and put to work helping out), if the weather really is that bad, my department’s clinic-based (not the inpatient-based) staff might be told to wait it out tomorrow.
Oh, and the broadcast E-mail that went out yesterday afternoon suggested we bring a change of clothing and extra food to work today, just in case we get stuck at work overnight. I followed the suggestion.
First of all, putting a battery-operated radio in your home for emergencies is a trivial matter. Apart from this, most people can go out to their car and turn on the radio even if they have no power.
So partnering with a radio station for news and weather broadcasts seems perfectly fine to me. What specific problem you have with it, I can’t really tell.