Environment, Media, Things That Tick Me Off

Things That Tick Me Off: Irene’s Hurricane Coverage in Washington

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?

163 thoughts on “Things That Tick Me Off: Irene’s Hurricane Coverage in Washington”

  2. I am glad to hear that our host, my fellow guest blogger and our esteemed regular reader(s) in harms way have come through unscathed.

  3. Glad to Hear the Professor and the Professor are safe…..I was going to say…The Professor and Gilligan….

  4. Eniobob: “I,m not in monmouth county but on this day the Essex &Hudson county areas got 8” of rain in one day:…”

    Wherever you are I hope you’re doing OK.

  5. Mespo,
    I am glad that you and your family are doing well and that you have power restored. Have fun cleaning up the mess!

  8. thank god … he was there and I missed him …

    eniobob,

    How’s the extended family doing?

  9. mespo,

    Thank you for letting us know you are well. Irene was a nasty piece of work. Be careful through this clean up period.

    Now we need to hear from eniobob.

  10. Glad to hear you’re OK Mespo, no electricity is awful. When the low, ubiquitous hum of air conditioners all over the area ends (sometime for days) it’s the end of civilization IMO. Take care.

  11. I’m happy to say I’ve emerged from Irene and, like JT, thought the hype was unseemly but not unwarranted. There were 790,000 homes without power in Richmond and environs (mine just tripped on around 2:00 p.m. after being out for over 24 hours) and we’ve had hundreds of uprooted trees in the Fan & Museum Districts as well as throughout the suburbs. Resoration of all power might take over a week for the million and a half Virginians who lost it. We have three confirmed deaths from the storm.

    Flooding is the next hazard to deal with and the Hampton Roads area is expecting an 8′ crest of the Elizabeth River which would exceed the 1933 hurricane which set the standard for disaster. The tunnels into Norfolk are just getting reopened and we’ve got a big cleanup ahead.

    Glad JT fared well, but it’s still a mess here.

    Here’ some pictures:

    http://www2.timesdispatch.com/list/richmond-rebounds-after-irene/gallery/

  12. Here’s a scary thought.

    The names for the 2011 Hurricane season are the same for what was used in 2005, with the exception of Katrina, which was retired and replaced with Katia.

    Katrina died on August 30th and looking at this afternoons model runs it looks like Katia will be born on August 30th.

    This afternoons model runs put what could be Katia near the Bahamas around September 6th/7th.

  13. That picture is West Coast snark about the eathquake a couple of weeks ago. It has nothing to do with the hurricane.

  14. Bda:

    “11. Newark, N.J., 8.92 inches”

    I,m not in monmouth county but on this day the Essex &Hudson county areas got 8” of rain in one day:

    What Led to the Rainy August in Monmouth County?
    Posted on August 19, 2011 at 11:02am
    “On Monday I reported on the impressive rainfall totals that were recorded throughout Monmouth County ranging from 2.78 inches in Freehold to 5.10 inches in Millstone Township. The following are rainfall totals taken throughout Monmouth County from the National Weather Service’

    http://matawan-aberdeen.patch.com/blog_posts/what-led-to-the-rainy-august-in-monmouth-county

    Airport Info-real time.

    http://www.emergencyemail.org/remoteflightWANG.asp

  17. Roco, I can answer that. A hurricane can be called a heat engine. Heat over water is the energy source. As for picking up additional water, any onshore wind will pick up evaporated water over the ocean, no matter the temperature. For an example, look at lake effect snow. So what happens is when the hurricane eye moves onshore, it loses power because it loses the source of its energy: warm ocean water. It is dumping a lot of water and picking up more offshore, but the amounts are dropping off as it cools and loses wind energy.

    That was probably as clear as mud, but am trying to keep it relatively simple.

  18. Bdaman:

    once they hit land it looks like they lose power. Do they continue to pick up water while they cycle over the ocean? the reduction in rainfall seems to indicate they dont. is that right?

  20. Irene’s Infamous Top Ten

    Totals through 10 a.m.

    Irene has caused damaging wind and excessive rains from the Carolinas to New England. Here are the highest rainfall and wind totals that we have seen through 10 a.m. EDT:

    Rainfall

    1. Aurora, N.C., 19.00 inches

    2. Bunyan, N.C., 14.00 inches

    3. Ft. Eustis, Va., 12.52 inches

    4. Washington, N.C., 11.31 inches

    5. Camp Springs, Md., 11.21 inches

    6. New Bern, N.C., 11.13 inches

    7. Suffolk, Va., 10.71 inches

    8. Grifton, N.C., 10.53 inches

    9. Newport, N.C., 10.22 inches

    10. Wenona, N.C., 10.13 inches

    11. Newark, N.J., 8.92 inches

    Wind Gusts

    1. Cedar Island, N.C., 115 mph

    2. Fort Macon, N.C., 92 mph

    3. Hatteras, N.C., 88 mph

    4. Buxton, N.C., 79 mph

    5. Cape Lookout, N.C., 78 mph

    6. Oregon Inlet, N.C., 78 mph

    7. Chesapeake Beach, Md., 72 mph

    8. Gaithersburg, Md., 72 mph

    9. Calvert Cliffs, Md., 72 mph

    http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/54348/irenes-infamous-top-ten-1.asp

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