Poor Media Use of Weather Terminology

[John Robinson]

We should call this one stupidity in the news.

This is the first paragraph in a story from today's Washington Post. "A mysterious pink glow illuminated the sky above the Australian town of Mildura on Wednesday, leaving residents wondering if they were witnessing an alien invasion, misplaced northern lights or a solar flare."

Yeah, that would truly be amazing if the Northern Lights were seen in Australia, since those are the Southern Lights in the Southern Hemisphere.

(The pink glow was caused by red LED lights at a medical marijuana farm. The lights were reflecting off of low clouds.)

 

[John Robinson]

In a recent Fox Weather online article about NWS Glasgow's upper air balloon encountering a supercell and going for a looping ride. we find this jewel:

"Data from the balloon's onboard anemometer showed a radical wind shift..."

Weather balloon goes for wild ride around thunderstorm after EF-2 tornado in Montana

A weather balloon launched from Glasgow, Montana, Monday evening was having an uneventful journey on its quest to measure atmospheric data… until the balloon ran into a line of thunderstorms that had just produced a tornado about an hour earlier.

www.foxweather.com

 

[Jeff Duda]

In a recent Fox Weather online article about NWS Glasgow's upper air balloon encountering a supercell and going for a looping ride. we find this jewel:

"Data from the balloon's onboard anemometer showed a radical wind shift..."

Weather balloon goes for wild ride around thunderstorm after EF-2 tornado in Montana

A weather balloon launched from Glasgow, Montana, Monday evening was having an uneventful journey on its quest to measure atmospheric data… until the balloon ran into a line of thunderstorms that had just produced a tornado about an hour earlier.

www.foxweather.com

Accuweather rep: "Man...why didn't we think of strapping an entire ASOS station (with mast) to a balloon and flying it?"

 

[Alvaro ivan]

Don't forget the Qatar tornadoes that occured back on November 2016, they were called as "gustnado" despite of the dust swirl/dust tube being connected to the cloud base

 

[Mike Smith]

All of this virtue signaling is fun but there are plenty in this group who keep mischaracterizing tornadoes. It isn't a "landspout," regardless of its appearance, if it comes from a supercell.

And, a landspout is a tornado. It isn't another type of storm.

 

[rdale]

Qatar tornadoes that occured back on November 2016

When the rotation is connected to the gust front, it's considered a gustnado. That's what their meteorological agency said.

Gustnado seen in Qatar (No, it’s not a tornado)

Doha: Many residents are reporting a strange phenomenon, which looks a small tornado, in Al Khor. It is actually a gustnado (called Al Afoor in local...

thepeninsulaqatar.com

 

[Alvaro ivan]

When the rotation is connected to the gust front, it's considered a gustnado. That's what their meteorological agency said.

Gustnado seen in Qatar (No, it’s not a tornado)

Doha: Many residents are reporting a strange phenomenon, which looks a small tornado, in Al Khor. It is actually a gustnado (called Al Afoor in local...

thepeninsulaqatar.com

I don't think they can be called as gustnado since this photo shows a funnel cloud associated with one of the dust swirl (it is likely that there is another funnel cloud associated with the other dust swirl)

 

[rdale]

I don't recall the radar data from this event, but my note was that when the Qatar meteorological agency says they were gustnadoes, we probably can't get upset at the media for using that term.

 

[Rick Schmidt]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this: "The current temperature is -15 degrees below zero!" (double negative)

 

[Alvaro ivan]

This is one of those times when the news outlet is wrong, you can see an obvious funnel and likely some connection to the cloud base on these two dust swirls

 

[rdale]

This is one of those times when the news outlet is wrong

This is the same one you posted above, where the Qatar Meteorological Agency apparently said they were gustnadoes, so not sure what else to say...

 

[Jason N]

One of the worst/best terminologies I ever heard approximately 25years ago, and still sticks in my head today, was from a TV weather anchor out of Baltimore Maryland(WJZTV), where he called a mix of Snow and Rain, "SNAIN". (This was my "Titanic" moment -- "I'll never let go Jack" - - of that terrible, but hilarious description.)

 

[Alvaro ivan]

And also, this is from the January 12th Selma, Alabama tornado. They literally called it as "possible tornado"

 

[Pierre Ducray]

One of the worst/best terminologies I ever heard approximately 25years ago, and still sticks in my head today, was from a TV weather anchor out of Baltimore Maryland(WJZTV), where he called a mix of Snow and Rain, "SNAIN". (This was my "Titanic" moment -- "I'll never let go Jack" - - of that terrible, but hilarious description.)

Snain is now kind of mainstream... It sounds cool to me... The wonderful Kingdom of Neologisms... Yes I know Jason, I'm playing devil's advocate...

 

[Jason N]

Pierre,

hah, that's ok, I believe I created the word Comfortability and its now in the Urban dictionary. Not everything has to be absolute, you play to your audience as well.

what do you want to bet, in a room filled with two groups, NWS Operational forecasters Vs. AMS certified (News casters) and someone said its "Snaining" outside.. I would guess that half of the room would Facepalm, while the other half would giggle and say, Oh I bet my ratings would go up when I started using colorful descriptions!! lol