After watching CNN, TWC & FNC cover Tropical Storm Bill, I have got to go home and have a beer or a Xanax or both! Certainly the folks in Texas felt a panic attack as they cleaned out store shelves like a major Hurricane was coming. When I came to this market back in 1978, I was a young (30), hyper fella who jumped about the screen trying to explain my passion for weather. What I learned in watching my predecessor (Nash Roberts) for several years turned me into a very different communicator. Nash would come on in a very calm, gentle, Grandfatherly like manner during tropical troubles & he gave you a feeling of security, that everything would be all right. Over the 3 decades since, I’ve tried to become that voice of reason rather than the voice of anxiety. All stations see their ratings go up when we see tropical disturbances develop. It’s the business we’re in. I try to prepare, not scare my viewers. I also understand that many will not take actions UNTIL they are scared. However, if we start to make every storm/Hurricane more a threat that it is, people will begin to sense the “cry wolf” syndrome. Is that where we want to go? Do we want your TV stations in “weather wars” all the time. I’m afraid that is becoming reality and I find that sad. That is not a road I want to travel.
In the short term, as the remains of Bill lift farther to our north, we should see another 1-2 days of mostly dry weather before the usual spotty mainly PM storms come back for Friday & the Weekend. Computer models have no other tropical systems for the next 7-10 days as the MJO is heading into the unfavorable (sinking air) mode.
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