Paul Knightley
EF5
Hi all - I hope this is the correct forum for this discussion.
Despite not being a resident of the Plains or the USA, the advent of the internet has meant that anyone around the world with a suitable connection can watch streaming TV stations - thus, I quite often find myself watching the live coverage of severe weather events in the USA.
For our 2 week chasecation, we are, of course, around the severe weather, and it's interesting to see how the actual weather (as seen in person) and the events around it are unfolding compared with how the media coverage of these events suggests they are unfolding.
To cut a long story short, it is my opinion that, quite often, the coverage of tornado events on TV stations is confusing, to say the least. Whilst chasing the El Reno tornado, we had a TV station's feed on in the car (of course, we were monitoring our position, etc etc, using all the standard radar tools, and our eyes/ears/experience - the coverage was merely an extra). At times, the information, especially from the station's chasers in the field, bordered on the hysterical - OK, that might be a bit strong, but hopefully you get my drift. There was a confusing array of road numbers, intersections, timings, interruptions by the chasers, etc, which made actually understanding where the tornado was, I think, hard to work out. As I say, this is my opinion of how a non-chaser might feel when listening/watching the footage.
I'm not suggesting I know what the solution is - indeed, I think a lot more study into how to best get across this information should be undertaken - I just think the NWS warnings get lost within the TV coverage, and the basic information of where the tornado is, where it's going, and at what speed/time, is not clear.
Perhaps not having any live chaser reports 'on air' would make the message clearer from the meteorologist - OK, the ratings must soar if you can put live images on from a helicopter or car, but the whole point of this is to protect people, surely?
Anyway, views would be welcome!
Despite not being a resident of the Plains or the USA, the advent of the internet has meant that anyone around the world with a suitable connection can watch streaming TV stations - thus, I quite often find myself watching the live coverage of severe weather events in the USA.
For our 2 week chasecation, we are, of course, around the severe weather, and it's interesting to see how the actual weather (as seen in person) and the events around it are unfolding compared with how the media coverage of these events suggests they are unfolding.
To cut a long story short, it is my opinion that, quite often, the coverage of tornado events on TV stations is confusing, to say the least. Whilst chasing the El Reno tornado, we had a TV station's feed on in the car (of course, we were monitoring our position, etc etc, using all the standard radar tools, and our eyes/ears/experience - the coverage was merely an extra). At times, the information, especially from the station's chasers in the field, bordered on the hysterical - OK, that might be a bit strong, but hopefully you get my drift. There was a confusing array of road numbers, intersections, timings, interruptions by the chasers, etc, which made actually understanding where the tornado was, I think, hard to work out. As I say, this is my opinion of how a non-chaser might feel when listening/watching the footage.
I'm not suggesting I know what the solution is - indeed, I think a lot more study into how to best get across this information should be undertaken - I just think the NWS warnings get lost within the TV coverage, and the basic information of where the tornado is, where it's going, and at what speed/time, is not clear.
Perhaps not having any live chaser reports 'on air' would make the message clearer from the meteorologist - OK, the ratings must soar if you can put live images on from a helicopter or car, but the whole point of this is to protect people, surely?
Anyway, views would be welcome!