Was TWC live when the storm hit Atlanta?

[Dave Gallaher]

I apologize, but I have to ask this question: what was TWC running when the storm that affected downtown Atlanta arrived? Were they still in Storm Stories or other infotainment programs or were they live giving warnings (or perhaps taking shelter)?

I was working in Birmingham and didn't hear about it until we were on the way home well after midnight.

 

[Doug Mitchell]

No, preaching garden tips and horror stories from 10 years ago was more important.

Oh yea, Global Warming is going to kill you too.

 

[B Ozanne]

I'm curious to know as well. Quite a few basketball games were live on tv when the storms hit.

What a gold mine for CNN.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

According to realtime accounts by ST posters in the NOW thread for this event, TWC stayed with prerecorded programming.

 

[Brian Stertz]

Thats a shocker. P. Allen Smith's petunia tricks over a fairly strong tornado hitting a major downtown area...in their own back yard too mind you. Good thing TWC has their priorities straight these days. More reason to not pay any attention to them any longer.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

Have they confirmed that this was a tornado yet? I kept hearing them refering to it as a tornado on TV during the Big 12 tournament, but earlier in the day I heard it reported as wind damage. Are there any pictures or proof that it was indeed a tornado?

 

[Glen Romine]

Have they confirmed that this was a tornado yet? I kept hearing them refering to it as a tornado on TV during the Big 12 tournament, but earlier in the day I heard it reported as wind damage. Are there any pictures or proof that it was indeed a tornado?

EF2 - reported in the LSRs.

http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KFFC/0803151738.nwus52.html

As for the TWC bashing, again, we are not the target audience. It seems to be assumed that storm enthusiasts are the primary viewers of TWC, but I think based on their programming we can safely assume that isn't the case. They are a business, and if there is little demand for national broadcasts of local nowcast weather, it should not come as a surprise they didn't cover it. I would bet, however, that they probably had a local warning scroll going in Atlanta for those watching via cable.

 

[Terry Kern]

Bring back John Coleman or get Tom Skilling in there to run the show.

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

I saw TWC bring up the radar and warnings for the Atlanta area for discussion as it was passing through the city, but I don't know how long they stuck with it. It was indeed on there though.

 

[Randy Denzer]

If you want to know real time weather you are better off watching CNN or Fox than The Weather Channel anymore. It's like tuning to MTV to watch or hear music!! HaHa!

 

[Gary Stofer]

Amazingly TWC did have coverage of that storm as it moved through the Atlanta area, at least it was shown on comcast cable up here in Indianapolis.
When I arrived home, after the apparent touchdown, CNN's anderson cooper was doing his show and as I recall changed topics to the Atlanta storm and the damage to the CNN and Omni.
When its in their own backyard, of course they'll cover it.

 

[Tom Tackett]

I had TWC on during the event. They were covering the two severe warned storms in northern Georgia in addition to the storms / watch boxes for Arkansas and Louisiana. Not sure if TWC had their Friday evening regular schedule (for that particular hour)---seems that they used to have special shows on during the Friday evening time period between 9:00 and 10:00 eastern time. Know that because it was 10:00 eastern before I could get to their regular coverage in the past on Friday evenings.

TWC appeared to be in regular programming mode with top of the hour coverage during the first segment along with a visit to Dr. Forbes since there was severe weather underway with convective watch boxes in progress across the Arklatex. Then it was the Weekly Planner segment. They were also tracking the northern Georgia storms that had required severe warnings northwest of the Atlanta area. As soon as the storm that was moving through the metro Atlanta area became tornado warned, TWC brought Dr. Forbes back for nowcasting and some additional coverage of the storm, along with the typical coverage given by the regular on-camera mets. The storm was moving southeast fairly fast so it came and went quickly.

One on camera met, Kevin I believe is his name, when retracing the storm that went through Atlanta, said that supercells are ALWAYS the ISOLATED storms that start spinning and create ALL the severe weather. Hummm?????...........what is the meteorology behind those statements???

 

[Jason Foster]

My feelings are a little different

EF2 - reported in the LSRs.

http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KFFC/0803151738.nwus52.html

As for the TWC bashing, again, we are not the target audience. It seems to be assumed that storm enthusiasts are the primary viewers of TWC, but I think based on their programming we can safely assume that isn't the case. They are a business, and if there is little demand for national broadcasts of local nowcast weather, it should not come as a surprise they didn't cover it. I would bet, however, that they probably had a local warning scroll going in Atlanta for those watching via cable.

I know and accept that we (chasers) are not their target audience. But I expect them to be aware of all "hazardous" weather situations especially when a storm is interacting with a major city. It a life-safety issue and an expectation on the material that the channel is covering. I would expect a political channel to cover a serious political situation when and wherever it was occurring, not show a simple bar at the bottom of a screen.

I'm not saying whether they did or did not cover it, but that would be the expectation. They, as a weather related media channel, have the obligation to broadcast the necessary warnings to allow people the time they need to make proper decisions. I would also expect people in the areas that are in danger to NOT depend on TWC for accurate warning information. They should be checking their local news, Weather Radios, AM and FM radios, internet, etc.

It's just my opinion and since the question was brought up in the thread I thought it ought to be discussed in terms of expectations.