Poor Media Use of Weather Terminology

[rdale]

Another news outlet classifying the Elgin tornado as "possible tornado"

Did you misunderstand the weather reporter? She literally - right away - says "tornado."

 

[Alvaro ivan]

Did you misunderstand the weather reporter? She literally - right away - says "tornado."

Maybe it's the staff's fault for the qualification

 

[Alvaro ivan]

"Funnel cloud"
The video shows a very obvious tornado

 

[rdale]

"Funnel cloud"
The video shows a very obvious tornado

Actually what we're seeing in this video is the funnel clouds.

 

[gdlewen]

Actually what we're seeing in this video is the funnel clouds.

I thought it was a tornado, also. Especially near the end where clear horizontal flow is ingested into the vortex. It looked like rain/water vapor but still looked like the vortex reached the (hilly) surface.

 

[rdale]

Oh I'm sure it's a tornado. But what we're seeing is the funnel cloud.

 

[John Farley]

Not exactly terminology, but a huge and entirely preventable error on CNN tonight, where the reporter said that the fire this week in Maui was the second deadliest in U.S. history, and that the Camp Fire, which destroyed Paradise, CA a few years ago, was the deadliest. NOT EVEN CLOSE, as tragic as these fires were. On one horrible day, October 8, 1871, there were three fires that EACH killed far more than the two mentioned by the reporter combined, at least based on the current Maui death toll, which of course will likely go higher. But not enough to make what the reporter said true. At least 1500, possibly as many as 2500, died in Peshtigo, WI, 250 more in the great Chicago fire, and another 200 in Port Huron, MI. All on the same day. The reporter could have easily found this out by spending 2 minutes on Wikipedia before going on air and making such exaggerated and inaccurate statements.

 

[Alvaro ivan]

That's a full-blown tornado. You can see the ground contact

 

[Alvaro ivan]

Rare Funnel Cloud Swirls in Northwestern France

A dark funnel cloud was seen rotating near the town of Ernee, France, on Sunday, September 17, as French weather officials issued storm alerts for the western region of the country.Thirty-three departments in France were placed on an orange alert due to storms on Sunday.Videos posted to social...

finance.yahoo.com

I don't know what's with the news outlet calling a very obvious tornado as "funnel cloud"

 

[John Robinson]

TV meteorologist: "It will rain on Thursday." His forecast: Chance of rain Thursday 60%.

Seems like unqualified forecast wording should equal 100% (or very close to it).

 

[John Farley]

This, from a CNN article this morning: "Guthrie said the state has tracked as many as 16 radar-confirmed tornadoes, with up to four of those being on the ground."

 

[Alvaro ivan]

This news from the January 4th, 2023 Fort Lauderdale EF0

 

[Alvaro ivan]

Another reason why the word "possible tornado" is getting overused by news outlet

 

[Jeff Duda]

This news from the January 4th, 2023 Fort Lauderdale EF0

I don't remember if I have posted this elsewhere, but this bit from comedian Dan Cummins is relevant:

Roughly the first 90 seconds.

 

[Alvaro ivan]

I don't remember if I have posted this elsewhere, but this bit from comedian Dan Cummins is relevant:

Roughly the first 90 seconds.

The video isn't available