Weather Hype – Quick, Send A News Crew!
In my opinion, the mainstream (fake) news has cried wolf WAY too often.
It doesn’t affect me anymore. They overuse their fear mongering and dramatically descriptive adjectives so, so much.
Every year during particular seasons there are weather events that regularly occur – like clockwork. Major winter storms. Tornadoes during tornado season. West coast rainstorms, mud slides, and their fire season. Hurricanes. Severe weather.
They’ve been happening ‘forever’. Nothing has really changed in that regard.
But you would think by listening to the sensationalized news that this next storm is going to be “the one”! The biggest, baddest, worstest ever!!
I believe they’re attempting to make us think that these weather events today are now something terribly, horribly, devastatingly, bad. Worse than every before! As opposed to the weather of yesteryear.
Mega storm! Super storm! Storm of the century! Oh my God we’re all gonna die!
Quick, everyone race to the grocery stores and buy bread, milk, and eggs!!
Weather Forecasting Getting Worse?
The part of the country where I live, we regularly or sometimes get a few ‘big’ winter storms throughout the season as opposed to ‘normal’ one’s.
For us that might mean a storm that dumps a foot or two in one day. Even when I was a young kid, these storms existed. But now, they (the fake news) will go crazy hyping up one of these forecasts as though the world’s coming to an end and it might be the biggest ever! And you know what happens (more often than not)? We might get half what they forecast.
This seems to be happening more and more. Hype turns to let down.
I just laugh when they come up with their new words. Especially when all the news outlets start parroting the same term! So funny…
I remember several years ago when they started using “mageddon”. Snow-mageddon! Cold-mageddon! Icemageddon! Wow, that must be really, really bad!
But what happens when the effectiveness of that wears off? Well, they’ll just come up with something, worse! Scarier!
I don’t think it’s coming from the meteorologists. They for the most part probably cringe. It’s probably coming from the program directors and editors. The bean counters. It’s such a joke.
It’s all about the camera angle
(and manipulation)
The Weather Channel started doing this many years ago, and now everyone seems to do it… It’s all about the camera angle.
What do I mean by that? Well, let’s say they’ve sensationalized a flooding event. They’ll send a news crew down to ‘the river’ looking for the lowest spot… you know the place – the one where it ALWAYS floods? (because it’s the lowest spot!)
Well here’s one trick: Get that camera down low near the water line. Angle it up a bit from there. It makes it look like Flood-mageddon!! The water might be only 3 inches deep, but it might look like 3 feet deep! Ratings, baby!!
Or you can just fake it:
Here’s a classic from fake news reporter Anderson Cooper, simply faking it:
How about this one… The water’s so deep in the streets that this fake news reporter needs a canoe! Whoops- These people stepped in front of the camera on live TV!
Here’s another example… There’s a hurricane that’s been forecast to pummel a region with Cat 4 winds. It’s gonna flatten the entire region. Well, lets send a news crew down to where they’ve forecast landfall. We can hardly wait to watch the on-scene reporter step out into the wind rocking back and forth with the gusts.
However – uh oh, it’s not as dramatically windy as they thought it would be. It’s barely gusting 20 – 40 mph, never mind Cat 1 (75 mph)… What to do?!
Let me ask you something: How often have you detected one of these so called news reporters over emphasizing their supposed poor footing in the wind? It’s pretty funny to watch them try to fake it (or at least make it seem worse than it actually is).
They actually blatently caught one of the Weather Channel guys doing it, I think last year (pictured above). He was jerking and swaying around like he was about to become airborne. And low and behold two people walking together came into camera view right behind him as they easily strolled by as though there was no wind at all. Hilarious!
Fake Wind
So often (seemingly always) during a hurricane landfall, if I’m following it, I’ll check all of the local personal weather stations. There are typically lots of them in any given area. (Wunderground.com has lots of them on their maps). Anyway, I’ll notice the “real” winds are nothing at all close to what the news is hyping. I mean not even close.
They will insinuate that an entire region is getting clobbered with 100+ mph winds whereas the reality may be completely false. Perhaps focused winds in a relatively small area compared to their messaging.
Their news has become quite laughable at times.
Weather Hype is Bad for us
The problem is, and as a preparedness website, I believe their sensationalism is affecting the public in a bad way.
The “chicken little” affect.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling! Wait,,,, actually no, it’s not.
It’s one thing to sensationalize a forecast event when it may “really” be a bad one. But nowadays they seem to do it almost all the time.
The second I hear one of their trigger words, I discredit everything I’m about to hear.
What Happened to Real Reporting?
It’s gone. I’m talking about weather reporting here in this article. But it’s also true of the mainstream news in general. Most outlets are no longer news. Rather, it’s agenda driven, sensationalism, identity politics, opinion, and commentary. Traditional reporting as it once was, is seemingly gone. It’s no longer objective. It’s all about the twist. Let’s all do the twist together…
Weather hype. How many people fall for this anymore? Are people really that dumbed down?
END OF RANT.
Continue reading: The best weather alert radio
There is no more true journalism/news/ whatever they call it now. I just call it drama and the effort to keep a news reporter /or news outlet relevant. Most of them are just “low tone” drama. True news reporters actually REPORTED the news, ie. The weather will be very windy today……period, no opining, no drama, just news stated with true facts, nothing more. Those days are gone.
Yeah, like Polar Vortex. It just used to be called a cold front. We had a ‘cold front’ come through here a few weeks ago. It was nonstop subject #1 on the local media. It was pretty cold but the media painted a picture that the next ice age was starting even though we all knew the ‘cold front’ was only going to be around for a couple of days.
Social media has so much to do with this phenomenon! It’s all about the “clicks”! Click bait reporting! The more clicks they can get on a story the more revenue it generates through advertising. They no longer have a choice with this business model… keep hyping up the stories and keep rolling in the dough!
It is sad, and Social Media is a cancer to this country!
The news hype is nothing new. Don Henley released the song “Dirty Laundry” in 1982. I was involved in a bad car wreck in 1995 and the reporters were at the hospital before the ambulance got there. Now the news is more political bull crap than anything else. I have a fool proof way to forecast the weather. I stick my head out the door and if it gets wet I wear a hat.
The outrage and sensationalism has gone over the top for sure. They over reports on topics which will get views and clicks. They mostly try to get attention from people who actually do not live where the weather event is occurring.
Take the recent winter storms for example. I know many people live in the south, but I would imagine they know places like North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc. get lots of snow and cold weather…
It has not been over freezing where I live for over a month now and it has had no effect on us. BTW the USPS still delivered mail during the “arctic air intrusions” where I live. Our infrastructure is built for blizzards and cold air, it has very little effect on us. We have massive tractors and snowblowers which remove the snow daily. It really isn’t a big deal!
Ok Ken, you got me going with a mighty good Belly Laugh with this article….
I absolutely LOVE the Bimbo in the Canoe with two guys walking in front HAHAHAH
Or that idiot Anderson Cooper SITTING in the river reporting the “Massive Flooding”… Can ya spell S-T-U-P-I-D??!!! And that fool is getting paid HOW MUCH!!?? Maybe not so stupid after all huh???
Problem I see is the general public does NOT believe the “Fake Weather” anymore, so when a nasty one hits nobody believes them anymore, I honestly see the Fake SOB’s putting people in danged because of their conditioning of the public.
To evert from the “Weather Fake”, the bigger concern is the “Fake News”, how many millions of times has the SB-News reported and in a week it’s found to be a completely made up LIE!!!! But that’s another Article to write.
Another thing while I’m on it, why the help do people need to depend on some POS 1000 miles away to tell if it’s raining outside? As car guy said, stick your head out the friggen door, know where you live, the history of the weather, be smart. Do you really need hotty chick standing in a studio to tell ya it’s snowing outside? Try sticking your hand on the pavement, it gets burned, IT’S HOT!!!!! (Don’t really do that, you’ll probably sue me for telling ya to do it).
So, I woke up to 8” of snow this morning, I knew it was coming, LOOK AT THE SKY, was humid and cooling off fast, AND guess what? There were these little white things falling from the sky!! ….
Dam, I’m in the wrong business, I need to forecast “Fake Weather” and get me a canoe…. HAHAHAHA
PS; CA_EX_2B, you got that right, what the hell ever happened to talking to someone? Having a conversation?
“Social Media is a cancer to this country!”
Absolutely!!!! Who is so stupid to post a picture of their lunch on F-Book? AND who cares?
NRP
Good thing you have them three wood burning stoves, two propane furnaces, twenty quilts, and a cuddle dog. :)
hermit us;
Don’t forget the 200,000BTU in-floor circulation water heat and 3 Down Comforters.
The Propane Installer ask why I needed a 1-million BTU regulator on the tank…… I was correct in my calculations HAHAHAHA
and that “hotty chic” always stands right in front of the radar and I can’t see a thing but her big baby bump !
NRP
I call it drama book. IMHO that’s all its good for.
country;
I agree, I use “F-book”, and the ‘F’ does NOT stand for “Face” HAHAHAH
Fake news is one thing; we might never know what the truth of an event is. But fake weather? You’re certainly entitled to your rant.
Bob Dylan was right – you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows . . . but imo you do need some sense of direction.
Oh, the metaphors!
NRP
Right on. Perfect timing! Your comment went up while I was writing mine.
The story of ” chicken little”
comes to mind…
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Bill Jenkins Horse…
Well it IS FALLING, in little white flakes…… 🌨 😁
Great now my blood pressure is back up to 140/80 thanks Kenn…
Fake Weather Reporters are the worst. Down here in FL they panicked the entire state to evacuate during Cat 3-4 Eerma 2 years ago. All interstates were clogged and gridlocked. Landfall was in the the Southwest part of the state but morons as far north as Tampa and idiots from the East coast of FL( actually NY and NJ morons) flooded the roadways. What a mess. I stood my ground and stayed.
My panicked neighbors fled to TN??? not sure what their flawed logic was. Because of the panic caused by fake media what would have took a 5 hour car ride to get out of the state turned into a 14 hour ride for the neighbors…. This prevented timely evacuation for people in the REAL Hurricane Land Fall zones.
How many people died or were injured in car crashes during that evacuation?
When the time comes these scum sucking fake media will get whats coming to them.
It is the news reporter’s job to sell ‘advertising air-time’ by providing “exciting, thought provoking news” to the masses. Just like it is a hospital’s job to sell “great healthcare” to the masses by showing off new equipment and facilities. That too has become a ‘business” rather than the “public service” it used to be. We now live in a world of “false-______”, you name it, as it is ‘anything goes’ to sell whatever.
…as the dumbed down masses are led around by the ring in their noses…
Exactly!
@Timberplot,
regarding the temperatures, nowadays they’re also recording temps within massive concrete “island” heat collectors (city regions). Seems to me that makes a difference too…
Which conversely reminds me of another term recently used on the news up here in a attempt to scare the beejesus out of us, “POLAR VORTEX“! It’s coming! Watch out! We’re all going to freeze to death!
Actually it came and went. Yes it was cold, as it always is in February. It’s called, Winter.
The heat island effect is real. Unfortunately, the global warming crowd use data from monitors near cities to include in their temperature readings. Weather stations that were once in the country or far burbs 20 or 30 years ago are now in the thick of housing developments or mini malls. With the heat island effect, temps in those areas are now a couple degrees warmer. So, the warming crowd now says, ‘see it is hotter than it has ever been in this region or it is seeing record heat’, when it actually is just a localized event. Now, the warming crowd includes those temps in the overall data and says that temps are increasing on average which is a skewed result.
That is not to say of all the ‘scientific papers’ that have been proven to use false or fabricated data. Or worse yet, to remove data that disproves their thesis.
The ‘newscasters” want to make the story about them, not the news!
tango
One day the news will be about them, as they try to get shot in more and more perilous situations – that tree or roofing may come down on their heads.
That is already happening here. The Chicago TV stations have crews drive around and give snippets of how bad the roads are during a storm. They talk about how icy or how much snow is on the roads and tells everyone that if it isn’t an emergency to not travel the roads. Meanwhile, they are out driving around everywhere potentially causing a public safety issues themselves.
Just like everything else in today’s society, most city dwellers can not deal with even the slightest discomfort.
I do remember walking a couple of miles to school when it was really cold 30-40 below zero some days. And before any wise guys say, yes it did feel like it was uphill both ways in knee deep snow.
That is why I hope that, if the SHTF, it happens in the winter – it would be quicker and more humane for the masses.
hermit us;
I don’t know what road you were walking on, but I walked in 4 foot high snow up-hill through a corn patch that did not get picked, frozen corn cobs smacking ya in the head all the way. AND up-hill back home through a Po-tater Patch with 2 foot deep furrows., and it was -53 degrees in the summer (Summer School, because 7th grade was the best 4 years of my life)…. hehehee, What the heck, someone had to say it, Gata tease ya some ya know.
:-)
NRP,
all this talk about Wild weather, and it all has to do with snow. What about how bad the drought has gotten in the 4 Corners? Why just the other day, while talking to a neighbor, a little cloud came up on us and squeezed out one drop of rain. That drop hit my neighbor right between the eyes as he looked up at the wrong time. Knocked him cold. Took 3 buckets of dust to revive him.
Minerjim;
Yeah got a foot of snow overnight and all the talk is the Drought is over,,, HAHAHAHA Gata love city folks and their predictions.
Seems that 7″ of rain a year is not quite enough for some people, They want their fancy 10 acres all landscaped and par-ty just like “back home in CA.”
PS; Ya gata be very VERY careful of those run-away Rain Drops…. HAHAHAH
“Knocked him cold. Took 3 buckets of dust to revive him.”
Now that’s just all out funny there I tell ya… LOLOL
Bhahaha I gotta send this to my dad up in Cortez
Matt in Oklahoma;
If’n he is in Cortez, he’ll know exactly that we’re talking… HAHAHAH
He got a kick outta it. Says things have improved with the snowpack up there. He sounded optimistic which is more than I’ve heard in a year from him.
That is hilarious Minerjim!!
NRP, were you also barefoot when walking to and from school in the snow?
I read that the snow pack in the mountains is quite good this year – I can hardly wait until the media start to warn of nation-wide flooding come spring. Build that ARK.
I don’t know HU…we’ve got over 40″ of snow so far this month …seems they think we might be the next Donner Party?
Yeah
Remember Sunday, I posted there was bad weather coming? Winter weather alert. We received an inch and a half of snow, maybe two.
When I was a kid severe snow was eight inches plus. Now it’s an OMG event to get a dusting of snow. Maybe it’s due to all the idiots on the roadways, nowadays
Hate watching the local weather forecasts, no matter how cute she is…. over-dramatic acting. 🤑
“Maybe it’s due to all the idiots on the roadways” Good comment. I repeatedly marvel as these folks who have watched the forecast get all bent out of shape because they got stuck or in a pileup. Maybe they should have made the choice NOT to be out on that road, emergencies aside. It just couldn’t be their fault. It’s not like they don’t have 3 days notice of these storms! Please JUST STOP with the pity party. Just none of them will take personal responsibility for their choices or actions. Freezing rain and then snow tonight and I’ll be right here in the warm, not driving, thank-you very much.
loclyokel
See the Weekly Open
Joe,
Yeah, here they go into all these details that do nothing but fill air time. They show different towns and show 1.7″, 1.5″, 2.1″. Tell me if the average person can tell the difference between 1.5″ and 2.1″. And this is before the first flake falls. Years ago it just used to be 1 to 2 inches. And yes, they get all crazy here over an inch or two of snow. If it is four or five inches, OMG, you would think that ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ was here.
and every storm now gets a NAME…..
Oh that’s right – I forgot about that! They started doing that a number of years ago. How dumb (in my opinion). What’s wrong with just saying “The Blizzard of 2019”? or “The October storm of 2019″… Instead we need to name it something like, “Storm Sally” or whatever…
Hurricanes’ have traditionally been named. But now every storm with a wind gust above 15 mph gets named (sarcasm). Okay maybe it’s 20 mph… Lol
I see it as little different from the teasers they put out all day regarding non-weather news, such as “Which city council member is facing legal trouble? Find out at 11 on news tonight!”. Then, at the end of their 11 news show, they’ll mention how some city council member isn’t really facing “legal trouble”, but instead got a parking ticket.
It’s all hype, all of it. They’ve been stretching and bending words for so long in a desperate attempt to get us to watch that they didn’t stop to see one day many of us will just get tired of it, see it for the lie it is, and walk away.
Ohhh yeah, they say- At 10 we have new information on such and such scandal. Then out of thirty minutes they mention the updated information without any real information over about 15 seconds.
Yeah today was a good example of how no one listens to them anymore. I actually jumped off the highway and took backroads home cause they wasn’t listening and were sliding into each other.
Snowmaggeden, thunder sleet and the sky is falling but on the other hand it’s super truckers, ever late soccer moms and the invincible bunch.
Can’t win either way with fake news or the brainless
In my humble opinion. with the Grand Solar Minimum coming, I think we are about to see some really wild and wide spread crazy weather, world wide.
Just look at the crazy summer weather Australia is having.
SMG,
With the Solar Minimum comes the probability that growing/hunting seasons will be adversely affected .
I have conversations with folks who are taking it very seriously (me included ).
In ancient times people migrated due to what would be considered major ongoing changes in local weather.
What’s funny is either folks take it seriously or think it’s all hogwash.
I guess I will err on the conservative side and secure our food supply…
Bill Jenkins Horse
Some are predicting a cooling effect that is 2.5 to 4 times larger than the Maunder minimum. The Maunder minimum lasted 60yrs. If this Grand Solar Minimum, plays out, as Professor Valentina Zharkova predicts, the whole world will be affected. I pray they are all wrong.
SMG,
Pray for the best.
Plan for the worst.
The key will be experience/skills dealing with the changes.
My kids/grandkids realize their world is a different one than what I grew up in and lived.
They are being proactive in their thinking.
We know we can’t put all the acreage under a roof to control the weather. But we can put in greenhouses and up the yield with better results using new ideas/technology.
We are putting resources into making vertical grow towers and hydro/aquaponics systems.
Learning from success/failure now is our plan.
Passing on the knowledge and teaching others hopefully will come to pass.
I fear the elitist government thugs will be the biggest problem most of us will face in the coming years.
Having knowledge of medicinal herbs will be a huge benefit.
Again, I see thugs trying to thwart us from healing ourselves through good food and medicinal plants.
Can’t make money or control you if we are truly self sufficient.
Just my opinion for what it’s worth…
SMG,
as fragile as foodgrowing/distribution has become weather and forecasting weather should be taken seriously .
Another good skill to work on.
Bill Jenkins Horse
You and I are basically on the same mind set.
I saw this coming in 2014.
4yrs now, I have turn this homestead into ALMOST, completely self sustaining. Fresh running water, lots of new and efficient infrastructure, alternative power and storage, Perennial herbs for health, and food. Plus much more. I’ve worked had to camouflage my efforts, so I don’t stick out. My place looks like a run down buffalo skinning camp, ON PURPOSE. If they only knew what was actually here.
My biggest concern, as I see yours is, can I keep it. Being not dependent on the system, is seen as a threat, not something good for other to learn from. But, they, not my family, don’t want to learn.
Will you and I make it? I hope so, but only my Heavenly father knows for sure.
We severed ourselves from television 10 years ago , don’t miss it a bit . It is amazing how the masses turn into a bunch of loonies by a little bit of over dramatic weather forecasting, especially in cities .
We do have weather instruments and we step outside and see what is coming at us from the Southwest . It seems to work.
Lack of hype also occurs. Forecast, as late as mid-morning today, was for a minor ice event early, followed by heavy, non-freezing, rain later in the day for my neck of the woods. Temps dropped below freezing about mi-day (as we returned up the mountain from trip to hospital for some tests). We now have over a quarter inch of ice on all surfaces. Tree limbs are sagging, rain still falling, temps in upper twenties and not expected to rise. We may be in for a devastating ice event. Sure wasn’t expecting this.
Ice is bad. When thickness reaches a certain threshold, things start to snap and break. Power goes out as tree limbs begin to fall. I’m sure you’re prepared though.
Watch your footing, and stay inside where it’s warm!
Right after posting the previous, we lost power (temporarily) due to a nearby lightning strike. Had several strikes since. Kinda weird, 29 degrees and a continuous stream of thunderstorms. Solid line on radar, stretching from NE Texas, streaming right over us. Hopefully the rain will raise temps above freezing. If not, we are in for a ride.
Dennis, Yeppers, most of heavy thunder was south of me but we had 35 degrees most of the day, rain coming down almost continually on some level and now winds of 10-20 mph..On cue to get 3 more inches from 5 pm this afternoon thru tomoro.
I love how they say 20 million people are in the path of a storm! or whatever number they want to throw out there. The storm is going from Texas to New York so duh!! Its all hype for ratings so advertisers will pay more $$!! All about the $$$!
sunstateboy,
I agree , follow the $$$$$$$ trail and you often find interesting things .
That’s another good one! Proclaiming the millions upon millions who they imply will be devastated by “the storm”.
Sure, we’re all affected (a snowflake landed on my head) or (the wind blew the hat off my head) or (the rain got me wet).
“In the path!”… they use that one a lot!
on the other hand, they never say there are 300 million people that are UN-affected.
OMG, I just happened to check zerohedge for their latest headlines and what do you know, here’s one from today:
“More Than 200 Million In Path Of Major Winter Storm Sweeping Across The US”
We were just talking about “in the path”, and how it’s overused these days for drama!
The insinuation is that 200 Million will be in dire straits after this February (winter) storm. Wow. Just wow.
Ken;
200 million is well over 1/2 the population of the US…. OMG-were-all-gona-die…… UGHHHHH
I guess I better practice more yoga so I am able to kiss my behind goodbye when the storm hits.
Just kiss it now. Save time when you’re fleeing for your life.
@lauren. That might be the best advise I’ve heard lately.
👂 👍
Hmmm, sounds like 50 Mil illegals in the path of big trouble? JS…I probably need another diversity class…maybe one on sensitivity too?
All of the weather drama is good for selling milk, eggs, bread and batteries. Never understood why people prepare for long term power outages by purchasing perishables. Guess they plan on making a lot of French Toast.
We live under “Code Red” every single day.
Too cold, too hot, too sunny, too much rain, too much snow…
The local fox news station is nuts about it.
We always wonder what they will do when a REAL weather emergency happens. Code red, red ,red???
The snow storm that just hit this area knocked out power to 4 or more counties.
In the early to mid 60’s it was a normal occurrence of this happening every year. Some years more, some years less, but this area was prepared(old timers)for power outages. They had wood stove, wood burning fireplaces, a back up heat source for those times when the other heat source was not available. Fast forward to the current setting “we do not need nor require that additional heat source in a modern day home”.
Well this time it bit them in arse big time, you could not find a hotel/motel/or heated dog house to rent during this outage. The weather folks had been claiming major snow storms weeks before this one happened, and like the trained sheep “oh, it’s not happen”, we lived here xxx years and no snow has ever fallen in this area. When I receive that answer I just smile and say well it has & it will again.
Where did the fault lie, at the weather media hyping the ‘major snows’ for this area at least for the past 3-4 weeks. Then when no snow fell the bahhhaa went about their normal business as usual. We are at the 9th day, areas are still without power, one being the ranch I grew up on which surprised me, that area usually receives power first.
In Texas, its every type of weather all week. One day raining. One day lots of wind. You might wear shorts on Wednesday. By Saturday your back in sweaters. You just never know. Always expect the unexpected. hahaha And if it does snow and ice, we just shut everything down. We don’t know what to do.