My brother sent me this mocking picture making the rounds on the Internet. I thought it was àpropos in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. The coverage in Washington of the hurricane-that-wasn’t has been absolutely bizarre. It is good to see that this city does not just panic with an inch of snow. We panic with any weather above a flurry or a misting. Folks in parts of North Carolina and other coastal areas have had legitimate concerns (including New York, Vermont and other areas) and Irene’s flooding and power outages were expected to take quite a toll in those hardest hit areas. However, the D.C. coverage was comically ridiculous. I watched one story of how Irene had began “its trail of misery and destruction” toward Washington. General Sherman’s March To the Sea had less dire reviews. I am only talking about Northern Virginia and Washington where the coverage continued in sharp contrast with the actual forecasted weather for our area.
I have been admittedly snarky of the coverage for days, particularly the last 24-hours when the hurricane was a Cat-1 hitting hundreds of miles away. Having lived through pretty big hurricanes in Louisiana, I have a respect for the storms but there was never any predictions of serious rain in my area. For days, I have been checking the various weather sites only to find predictions of two inches of rain and strong winds on Saturday night (with clearing on Sunday). I would then turn on the television or go on the Internet and find live, round-the-clock, breathless coverage of the “misery” and “destruction” coming to Washington. At no time did the forecast predict anything more than roughly a couple inches of rain and high winds. There was clearly a chance for power outages due to the soaked soil and winds, but the coverage in this area was positively apocalyptic.
In addition to ratings, the hysteria did produce record sales at stores as people prepared for the apocalypse with bodies stacked like firewood in the streets.
Everything closed despite the fact that only two inches of rain and some strong winds were predicted. This morning, the coverage continues with reporters showing the same pictures of a couple of trees down to fill time. The rest of the coverage is largely “things that did not happen” stories. My favorite this morning on Channel 4 (NBC) was how in Alexandria the harbor man thought that people who tied up their boats for high tide might have to come back and tie the boats for lower tide. The reporter then went to show how the water has not risen and how high water could have been a problem in causing flooding — if there was high water. As predicted in the actual forecasts for days before the hurricane (as opposed to the news coverage), we had some trees down, some power outages, and rain. Various forecasters (here and here) objected to the overblown claims in places like Washington before the storm hit.
I was not alone in feeling a significant loss of credibility for our local media in the hype leading to the storm — which seemed overtly disconnected to the actual predictions of rain and wind. Of course, at the coast, there were some curious moments such as the reporter who gave a live account while covered in what appears toxic foam.
We decided not to join the apocalyptic preparations and instead invited a couple of the friends of the kids over for a hurricane party and sleepover. Our power went off for exactly twenty seconds, but we had a grand time and watched “Cats v. Dogs” while devouring bags of popcorn. The overkill coverage will only make it more difficult for media and the government to get people to believe them next time when there is a serious threat, in my view.
Of course, most everything is still closed today as we clean up the carnage of blown leaves and soggy lawns in our area. In your view, was Irene overblown?
These are the top two for inches of rainfall for VA.
11.83 inches: Chesapeake, Va.
10.73 inches: Dendron, Va.
Her name will be Katia
It’s the area of cloudiness that is to the SSW of the Cape Verde Islands
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/geo/index.php?satellite=met-prime&file=gif
who is irenes kis sister lol ?????????????????????
Over 900 thousand people without power in Va.
Dominion Power, servicing much of Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, is reporting nearly a million customers without power. This is 40 percent of the total system. Nearly a quarter of Delmarva Power service area, all of Delaware and eastern shores of Maryland and Virginia
All of Harford County, Md., has no power
It is good news that the storm is being downgraded. I hope Irene’s kid sister doesn’t materialize as bdaman suggested.
a fukkin men!
Bdaman and eniobob point out an important point.
The ground is soaked from rain, which makes the soil boggy down below just the topsoil. Add torrential rain such as a hurricane or tropical storm can produce, factor in the fact it is slow-moving and add several inches of rain, the soil becomes even weaker to support tree roots and structures embedded in the ground. Then consider winds in excess of 25-40 knots and you have a recipe for disaster.
Stuff is getting blown over that would have been able to withstand the wind gusts under ordinary circumstances.
Bda:
“what people don’t understand is as far as financial loss a slow moving Tropical Storm or Tropical Depression, say at 5-10 mph can have a greater impact than say a Hurricane moving at 25 miles an hour.”
That’s the point that a couple of weathermen was trying to make people understand.A slow moving storm has more time to create havoc.
Eniobob what people don’t understand is as far as financial loss a slow moving Tropical Storm or Tropical Depression, say at 5-10 mph can have a greater impact than say a Hurricane moving at 25 miles an hour.
Enibob Long range model forecast take the system designated 92L (currently off the African Coast) pretty much in the same direction as Irene Started. Alot of times a specific pattern develops in the Jet stream. What am I trying to say? Irene’s sister Katia is coming and don’t be surprised if she comes up the East Coast like her sister in about 10-14 days.
Like Irene 92L has a very very large envelope and already has a 40% chance of development in the next 48 hours.
Keep an eye on my forecast page as I keep an eye on the eye of the next Hurricane.
haaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaahaahhhaha
Bda:
Been downgraded now to a tropical storm,Had one councilman say Irene was like that blinddate from hell.
It was 110 in Austin yesterday and the same is expected for today, and dry as a bone. I can’t wait for winter so I can complain about how cold it is. 🙂
Just because it didn’t happen in D.C, means YOU WERE LUCKY.
Others not so much.
Don’t worry before the seasons over I’m positive your gonna get a second chance and this time you might not be.
Eniobob good luck with the cleanup. I forecast this system to be an ominous situation a week ago. Every storm is different and this one just happens to be historic. Just not for some, but for a whole lot of people.
Hey, did everyone know that there was an earthquake in Colorado? As well as aftershocks.
My personal favorite over-reporting was “Snowmageddon” in Seattle several years ago. We got maybe an inch and a half.
The weather people got this one right.And I guess the people who didn’t take it serious were use to the “wolf is coming”but never showed up.
He showed up big time on this one.
Got a lot of water on the ground in my area haven’t been able to go out yet to see whats really going on.Just had 8” of rain the other day all in one day,the ground is saturated and there is talk on TV of electrical wires down in other areas and fallen trees.Luckily have not lost any power yet.Storm should be thru here by about 4 or 5pm they say.
Its not just DC, it is everywhere. News stopped being about reporting important information to grown ups years ago. Now it is all about driving ‘eyeballs’ to advertisers. The best way to do that is drama and panic. That is why every little thing is always THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!!!!
Sadly, a certain panic deafness sets in and when there is a real need for concern most people are numb to it. We have not been well served by our media for more than 20 years as profits are the only driving force now.
All the blowhards are away from Washington at the moment. The press is therefore, reporting on Irene with unusual gusto.
Love the picture!
Don’t under estimate the time and energy of cleaning up soggy leaves….Not fun….
Can we say hype….can we say hyperbole…Can we say Katrina….but then not everyone lives in a swamp pit….
I’ll trade you some fine Texas heat for some rain…..
Crazy coverage even in UK, Sky news is follow hurricane Irene in earnest. I was in Houston during tropical storm Allison and narrowly escaped being flooded out but when my partner phoned from the UK and I said it was okay our home had escape the flooding she had no clue what I was talking about.
I am happy you and yours weathered the storm unscathed and in good spirits. Living in Louisiana is good training for dealing with hurricanes later in life.
What has been coming out of Washington recently–and perhaps not so recently–more closely resembles a Santa Ana wind instead of a hurricane. Vast amounts of hot air, lives disrupted or destroyed, damage to the environment and at times the wind is strong enough to overturn large trucks, thus blocking normal traffic on highways and bridges.