What's the connection between tv meteorologists and Boston?

TWC is something that "weenies" or chasers like us watch only when we've digested enough other better information that we think, "Gee, I wonder what TWC is thinking about this storm." or something similar.

TWC is something that common folk watch...just like the other TV mets...to brief them on what will happen. Will it rain, or won't it. They don't really care about the degree of it as long as its not significant enough to pose a life/property threat. Thats why when you talk to people they will probably say something like, oh I heard we could get a couple inches of snow and you'll be thinking in the back of your head, "Right, try a foot."

So, I've found it most useful to use government forecasts or make my own, which I'm becoming better and better at.

...Alex Lamers...
 
TWC is something that "weenies" or chasers like us watch only when we've digested enough other better information that we think, "Gee, I wonder what TWC is thinking about this storm." or something similar.

TWC is something that common folk watch...just like the other TV mets...to brief them on what will happen. Will it rain, or won't it. They don't really care about the degree of it as long as its not significant enough to pose a life/property threat. Thats why when you talk to people they will probably say something like, oh I heard we could get a couple inches of snow and you'll be thinking in the back of your head, "Right, try a foot."

So, I've found it most useful to use government forecasts or make my own, which I'm becoming better and better at.

...Alex Lamers...
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I think you hit if 100% right on the head of the nail. That's exactly my train of thought as well, I only watch it when I am done doing my own forecast. I too think about the "couple inches", when your likely to get a foot...
 
Thanks a lot to whoever started this thread. I'm watching TWC right now and all I'm hearing is Boston, Boston, Boston. Now, I'm hyper-sensitive to whenever I hear Boston on tv.

Paul Kocin is a good guy. He visited my school a few years ago. We gave him a hard time about how they never talked about the snowstorms in Salt Lake City. He admitted that just wasn't good business for them. Oh, he's really kind of quiet too.
 
Thanks a lot to whoever started this thread. I'm watching TWC right now and all I'm hearing is Boston, Boston, Boston.
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Of course, several things to consider here about "Boston":

1) Boston just received its biggest snowfall since 1978, some areas nearby with up to 38" of snow.

2) TWCs major supplier of weather information is from WSI which is based in the Boston area.
 
I know, I was trying to be a little funny.

They are also on the verge of breaking an all-time monthly snowfall record. Set way back at the beginning of the century....February 2003.
 
I wasn't trying to imply anything about saying "Winter Weather expert", since that's how he's referred by from the other on-air TWC mets. He has done a lot of research into winter storms (particularly, Northeastern US winter storms), so I'm not discrediting him by any means...
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No, I didn't think you were trying to imply something, I just wanted to say that TWC gives these guys all but 2 or 3 minutes an hour to give expert analysis. I think during major events, the "experts" should have the airtime, since they generally know a bit more what they are talking about, and they convey it in a scientific way that everyone can understand.
 
I understand and agree with all the focus on the big markets of the country. That means bucks.

My only beef has been when there is a life-threatening severe weather situation. They ought to show radar more often, etc.

There are still many people in the "fly-over" parts of the US that can't pick up local TV, and TWC is their only source of weather information. Fortunately, with the expansion of NWR coverage, it's better. However, the potential to save lives should take precedence. Those are very short-duration events, and should not have much impact on ratings/profits.

My folks living in Eastland county, TX had that exact problem. They were in the Abilene TV market and were too far away to get a signal from TV. In the days before Dish, they couldn't get Dallas TV, which now they do, provide mediocre coverage of weather events until they get to Parker county.

NOAA weather radio just put a transmitter in Cisco, which near the lake where they live, so now they're set.

There were many MANY times from the time they moved there in '96 to just a couple years ago where they'd call me hundreds of miles away, and I'd sit on the phone talking them through the severe situation. They had TWC on c-band satellite, and had it on, and on more than one occasion, my mother would start cussing when they would go to the boat and beach forecast or light rain in the Northeast. She was really worried, and while I would be at school or work, she'd be worried and couldn't quickly decipher where she was on the radar they would show. They'd show a Texas or regional radar that wasn't zoomed in enough, then zoom in... but to the Dallas metro to say that nothing's going on yet.

Again, I understand the TWC philosophy, but this hasn't happened just a few times. It happened very often.

Now they have Dallas TV (lament above), but they also have NWR and satellite internet. My mother has become computer-literate by way of navigating all the weather information. I no longer have to hold her hand.

And she never turns to TWC anymore... ever.

MP
 
Originally posted by Kevin Scharfenberg
Of course, none of this really explains their bizarre idea this past weekend to go ahead and show \"Forecast Earth\" and \"Storm Stories\" during potentially the biggest northeast U.S. blizzard of the decade.
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Perhaps this explains it?

http://www.lostremote.com/archives/003586.html

During the 8-9pm hour Saturday night, The Weather Channel split its air signal into two feeds. In the 22 markets battling the blizzard, TWC aired live snow coverage. The rest of the country saw the regularly-scheduled Storm Stories show. "[It's] just the tip of the iceberg" for customizing and localizing weather coverage, said Patrick Scott, president of the TWC Networks.
 
Originally posted by Bill Hark
If you look at a map of the United States, starting on the upper right (as you face it) and move downward, Boston is the first major city. It is a logical choice before New York, then Philadelphia,Washington, Atlanta etc.

Bill Hark
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But doesn't the weather generally move from west to east across the country? Then why start at the last place weather systems will go?

Two more questions:
Doesn't CNN own TWC?
About the time TWC started to go downhill, didn't Turner Broadcasting, the parent of CNN, make a major acquisition?
 
Originally posted by Glenn Dixon
During the 8-9pm hour Saturday night, The Weather Channel split its air signal into two feeds. In the 22 markets battling the blizzard, TWC aired live snow coverage. The rest of the country saw the regularly-scheduled Storm Stories show. \"[It's] just the tip of the iceberg\" for customizing and localizing weather coverage, said Patrick Scott, president of the TWC Networks.
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I would have preferred the "Blizzard feed". Does the viewer have a choice as to which feed they get? (for digital cable and satellite subscribers, of course)
 
Yeah, especially since a lot of people have friends and family in that area. It would be nice for those out of that area to see coverage of a major event like that instead of Storm Stories. :roll:
 
Originally posted by Glenn Dixon
During the 8-9pm hour Saturday night, The Weather Channel split its air signal into two feeds. In the 22 markets battling the blizzard, TWC aired live snow coverage. The rest of the country saw the regularly-scheduled Storm Stories show. \"[It's] just the tip of the iceberg\" for customizing and localizing weather coverage, said Patrick Scott, president of the TWC Networks.
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I got news for "Patrick Scott"... Twas the iceburg that sank the Titanic!
 
Personally, I like the idea of being able to air critical weather coverage only in the area that needs it. I look forward to seeing "Storm Stories" (at least on those rare occasions when there's a new tornado or hurricane episode on) and would be upset if it was pre-empted for blizzard or ice storm coverage for another part of the country.

Conversely, it would be nice to not have to sit through "Storm Stories" when I'm desperately searching for a radar update on the tornado outbreak that's unfolding overhead.
 
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