Turn off the TV!!!

[Frank2]

This topic might not set well with some, especially those in media, but, it's said with all due respect, since some of my old co-workers at the NHC have embarked on media careers of their own...

But, that said, during times like these, aside from needing to know the latest information on the storm's location or strength, or, due to an issue that concerns your own personal situation at home, while it's tempting to keep watching every news report on Fay (or any other tropical storm or hurricane), it's best just to watch your favorite channel one time after a new advisory is issued - and then make a firm promise to keep the television turned to something else - or off completely...

Unfortunately, reporters have a nasty habit of turning up the volume in cases like this, and, as early as 7 a.m. this morning, already had their live trucks outside a local Home Depot, saying, "Even at this early hour, customers are arriving to buy supplies head of Fay...", but, that does nothing to ease the public's anxieties, and, if anything will make matters worse, especially when reporters begin to feel their own stress, since it's well known that reporters are some of the most stressed individuals in the workplace, and, as journalists know, their own anxiety can easily be seen and transfered over to their audience...

A few months ago, I decided to end my watching of certain OCM's on The Weather Channel because they seemed to be so stressed themselves, that just listening to them would make my own muscles tighten, and, since making the committment to "turn the dial" (or at least mute the TV), I've actually felt a decrease in weather related concerns - especially helpful when the outcome was far less than their own fears...

So, give your TV (and your nerves) a rest, and, when the temptation comes to "see if there's anything new with Fay", remember that nothing has changed since you last watched that reporter-charged live shot just 10 minutes ago...

Frank

[southerngreen]

with great respect for your opinion, it's seems to me that there are basically two kinds of people (with regard to hurricanes, etc) - those who want to know everything and those who want to know nothing.
it is easy to go on with your regular routine & forget to check on the status of these things & a lot can change in a day's time (anyone remember Opal?)
so i would say,
1)watch the forecast on a trusted outlet.
2)make your preparations & know what you're going to do if it comes your way (including YOUR deadline "to get out of Dodge" if necessary.)*
3)check in before you turn in for the night (or whenever you'll be out of touch for 6-8 hours). *depending on track & intensity, you may have to change departure time & destination!
then, if conditions warrant, you'll be well prepared for evacuation in time to actually make it to your destination. or, if you're staying, you'll have all your supplies & preparations done & won't have that "tight feeling" in your neck muscles.

[Aslkahuna]

I rarely watch TV so I get my info online.

Steve

[Jason_B]

No offense Frank but why exactly are you so determined to downplay everything?

[NFLnut]

I agree with Frank. There's nothing wrong with being prepared, and maybe even to occasionally state the worst case scenario. I know that I went to work on Friday the 13th a few years ago thinking we would get some rain and winds, but it would be business as usual. But then at 100pm I was heading home after I had to make the decision to close my business and send employees home. I still though we would just get some moderate winds and rain. At 1000pm that night, all hell broke loose. After some forty-four years of living through numerous Hurricanes, some cat 3 and 4, I remember thinking Charley was the worst. I had two trees on my roof, a ten foot diameter hole in the roof over my kitchen, and one inch of rain on the floors. Power was restored four days later. I still have some damage to my house from Charley.

Still .. I was aware of the danger in plenty of time to get home. As to the trees on my roof: no amount of getting worked up over the crazy rhetoric from the TV weather people would have helped. In fact, I've found that while you can be super-prepared for a storm (and we all should get ready in May and June) that at least for ME, the greatest danger is a tree falling on my house. You can board up your windows, but you can't board up your roof!

Now days, the media falls all over themselves to make you think the absolute worst is about to happen. Let's take the current storm as an example: they are currently comparing Fay to Charley. This is completely irresponsible. At worst, Fay might come on shore as a cat one, or low two. So yes .. I agree with Frank. Check this site and some of your other favorite Hurricane sites regularly and keep up to date. But let the foaming-at-the-mouth newsies give their hyperbolic spin to an audience of none.

[TheShrimper]

Someone needs to get a life. That being said, you don't need to be directing people as to how to run thiers. You got big ones Pal.

[VeniceInlet]

I get what you're saying Frank...some are just taking you too literally. Lighten up, people. He's got a good point.

What I think you're suggesting is to try not to get obsessive and freaked out by watching endless speculation (which is completely counterproductive) and instead, spend time and energy doing the storm prep you should to get ready. In the past I've gotten myself whipped into a frenzy about these things watching the TV mets speculate minute by minute, and it did me no good, just made me really jittery by the time the storm did hit. The best thing is to just check when the new NHC reports are out each few hours. The local mets tend to really go overboard on making people scared witless. The best thing to do is get yourself all set, keep an eye on the latest from the NHC as it's available, and either stay put or drive somewhere safe.

I'd also say that in addition to TV, I got obsessive about checking this board also, and I'm trying to limit that as well. At least it's gotten so much better now because it's moderated to keep the panic down.

[Cookiely]

My motto is be prepared, my mama's motto is I don't want to hear about it and its not coming here anyway. I use the internet since the TV is off limit for news that's weather related or other unpleasant news. I sneak around and make preparations as best I can. I do think you have to be careful with children in the home and not scare them to death with what ifs.

[DanKellFla]

I have a relative visiting from France. He is fluent in English, but occasionally misses the meaning of some things. He just called and offered to help put up my shutters. ( I live near West Palm Beach) He was watching the news last night and got all worried about the storm. Once again, the local news strikes. I had to let him know that I am prepared and that there is a good likelyhood of this being just a bad storm around here.

[Frank2]

Thanks to all those who were kind enough to post intelligent comments, both pro and con...

As someone who worked in the path of media for 5 years, I can say first hand that indeed some are very nice folks, but, others, to be honest, are very dysfunctional in their behavior. Worse yet, aside from the own dysfunctions, many in media have their own career agenda, and, when it comes to something like a hurricane, they will eagerly step on each other to "come out ahead" in the ratings - at the expense of the viewing public...

One time, we were working a system very similar to Fay, and, the media, who was already camped out at the NHC for at least 24 hours, were getting irritable at the lack of anything dynamic to report - at one point, a reporter (perhaps for one of the cable channels), told me, "Well, it's time for me to go outside and look wet", as a way of saying that the live shot would look more dramatic if he were standing in the rain (and it wasn't even raining very much), so, it's really a case of willful misrepresentation on the part of many in the media when it comes to something like TS Fay, since there isn't quite enough there for a "good" story, so, they must inflate the facts a bit to get enough attention...

Now, while some outlets in media are honest and give the public needed information, some (locally we pretty much know who they are) are often careless and tell viewers to "Keep it here for the latest on Fay", which only causes the public to go through the unnecessary task of listening to the same over-emphasized information, hour after hour - until they become stressed themselves...

Certainly, in cases like Hurricane Andrew or Katrina, being prepared and listening to the latest advisories and evacuation orders was very necessary, but, in lesser cases where the affect of the system is questionable, the public is often lead to believe that the same level of vigilance is true - it isn't...

As a ham radio operator and participant in the public sector, I know well what it means to be prepared, both from natural or man-made disasters, but, the media of today has often become a negative influence when it comes to calming the public's fears...

Just this morning, for example, I went to church at my usual hour, then, was able to complete my Sunday morning bicycle ride (actually a bit longer than last week), and, was able to get home in time to hear Dr. Lyons (TWC) mention that Fay was struggling a bit - good news to us here in South Florida, but, as he said, we need to continue to monitor the situation, so, per his good advice, I'll check in when each advisory is issued - leaving the remainder of the "live coverage", as NFLnut (LOL) mentioned, to address an empty audience...

Frank

[jinftl]

I have to chuckle at what you describe below because it brings to mind the image of a female meteorologist in Miami reporting outside during Wilma....the absurdity is that they actually had to use rope to tie her to a tree, otherwise she would have fallen over. Clearly the woman was struggling...but the irony is that it made 'great tv' which i guess was the ratings goal. Finally a newscaster in the studio told her to come inside. Common sense won out as street signs were flying by her head like javolins.

Thanks to those who were kind enough to post intelligent comments, both pro and con - the rest, well, they need prayer...


One time, we had a system very similar to Fay, and, the media was getting irritable at the lack of anything dynamic to report - at one point, a reporter (perhaps for one of the cable channels), told me, "Well, it's time to go outside and look wet", as a way of saying that the live shot would look more dramatic if he were standing in the rain (and it wasn't even rainy very much), so, it's really a case of willful misrepresentation on the part of many in the media when it comes to something like TS Fay, since there isn't quite enough there for a "good" story, so, they must inflate the facts a bit to get enough attention...

Frank

[NFLnut]

In addition to the comments above, I will also say that these pinhead weather people on the locals are doing the community and themselves a tremendous disservice! They clearly passed the "Cry Wolf" point in the last couple of years and the community is starting to tune them out. I'm afraid that the next BIG disaster 'cane is going to be ignored by people who are tired of being pummeled needlessly by hyperbole.

Aside from the desired effect of people moving OUT of Florida for a change to less tropical climes (seriously .. isn't Florida FULL by now?!) I think the TV newsies need to drop it down about 12 notches!

The other thing is, last night while trying to enjoy the Olympics and Phelps creating history .. and I've got a big TV .. I got sick of the local station every twelve minutes reducing the Olympics picture to less than a third of the screen for long periods to show me a radar image of barely-a-tropical-storm off of Cuba!!

[DanKellFla]

The other thing is, last night while trying to enjoy the Olympics and Phelps creating history .. and I've got a big TV .. I got sick of the local station every twelve minutes reducing the Olympics picture to less than a third of the screen for long periods to show me a radar image of barely-a-tropical-storm off of Cuba!!

LOOK!!! Clouds moving in a circle over an island. If you squint real hard, and lean over you might find the center of the 40mph winds.

[caribepr]

It's been interesting for me...when I left Culebra, worrying I might not be able to fly off to SJ to meet my next flight, I was on what was then uh...92L...like I usually am, but with more on the line than usual. Now I'm in Orlando with my daughter and keeping track, but with NOWHERE near the anxiety I have when home. I've made sure we're all prepped here, which they *sort of* were, but such a huge different feeling! We're not watching the weather channel, I'm just checking my online sources I check at home, including here natch.
It's strange, how different it feels...but I'm enjoying the feeling of less huge pressure, more options and other diversions. And, I'm understanding a lot more why people on the mainland have a different response to potential disaster than we do in the islands...it's just...different! I know it's not quite true, but it feels MUCH less like life and death here. Maybe a false sort of security. We'll see what happens.
Weird.

[NFLnut]

It's been interesting for me...when I left Culebra, worrying I might not be able to fly off to SJ to meet my next flight, I was on what was then uh...92L...like I usually am, but with more on the line than usual. Now I'm in Orlando with my daughter and keeping track, but with NOWHERE near the anxiety I have when home. I've made sure we're all prepped here, which they *sort of* were, but such a huge different feeling! We're not watching the weather channel, I'm just checking my online sources I check at home, including here natch.
It's strange, how different it feels...but I'm enjoying the feeling of less huge pressure, more options and other diversions. And, I'm understanding a lot more why people on the mainland have a different response to potential disaster than we do in the islands...it's just...different! I know it's not quite true, but it feels MUCH less like life and death here. Maybe a false sort of security. We'll see what happens.
Weird.

Well .. obviosuly you're NOT watching channel 2 (I haven't watched the other channels because I am glued to the Olympics) because THEY are in FULL, IMPENDING DOOM AND DISASTER mode over there! They insist on taking over 3/4 of the screen with their updates every three-and-a-half minutes which basically states: "Yep. It hasn't moved in the last three minutes, and it's still the same wind speed it was LAST TIME we took over half of your screen, and .. well .. you folks in Orlando should start bending over so that you can kiss your youknowwhats' goodbye on Tuesday, so stay tuned every minute for the next 48 hours so that we can continue to take over half of your screen .."

Today, I was trying to watch beach volleyball and for twenty minutes I had NO clue what the score was because they ran the same crawl with the same unchanging info right on top of the scores! So .. as much as I would LIKE to turn off the TV, I am also trying to watch the Olympics on my huge screen which most of the time is reduced to the equivalent of an 11-inch TV because of their nonsense. They even did this last night when Phelps was making once-in-a-lifetime Olympic history (and yes I WAS alive when Spitz set the original record, but I was 12 years old)!

[Frank2]

Interesting comments - it's one thing to get an update once the lastest advisory is issued, but, per CNN yesterday afternoon, who's reporter was standing in front of a Key Largo gas station, commenting on "how busy it was" - while 3 pumps could be seen without any cars, so, it's just a matter of getting the information we need - then turning off the rest...

[Jinkers]

I've also been watching the olympics, and also have a big tv, and here in the Miami area, they've just done updates instead of ruining my viewing of the olympics, I want to be informed, but I don't need to watch it 24/7-lol. Good post Frank.

[NFLnut]

The TV station that has the Olympics keeps going to their reporter on Ft Myers beach and every time they say "let's go to Joe Blow on the beach where conditions are steadily getting worse!.." The palm branches behind the guy aren't even moving .. they're dead still, the waves are rolling to the shore one at a time and about 3-inches high, and I think they splashed him with a garden hose before the shot!

The local mets are just trying to whip everyone up into a needless frenzy! And they only will be hurting themselves if Fay turns out to be a dud.

[Patrick99]

People have to realize, and I'm not sure that the vast majority of people do - that there is a HUGE difference between something like Tropical Storm Fay, and a hurricane Andrew, Katrina, Hugo. I'm not entirely sure that the masses grasp what a wide spread there is between a T.S./minimal hurricane, and a Cat. 4-5.

Yeah, yeah. I don't need a lecture. I've lived in Florida my whole life. I know you can still run into trouble with a Cat. 1, if you act like a total idiot. Yes, if you insist on going out driving while the core of the storm is upon you, you can blur roads and bodies of water, and wind up in a canal. You can inadvertently touch a downed power line. You can run your generator in a non-ventilated area and die of carbon monoxide poisoning. I know all of this, trust me. Yet I do believe that if you use common sense, you can make it through a Cat. 1-2 without much of a problem. It's not THAT big of a deal, it really isn't. Be prepared. Shutter up, have plenty of water, flashlight, radio and batteries, set up a couple coolers with plenty of ice, and don't do anything stupid. You'll make it. You might be uncomfortably hot for a couple days without power, but you'll make it.

The masses don't know this, though. They think every TS or Cat. 1 is equivalent to Andrew or Katrina. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet the networks and news people just hype it and hype it.

[NFLnut]

People have to realize, and I'm not sure that the vast majority of people do - that there is a HUGE difference between something like Tropical Storm Fay, and a hurricane Andrew, Katrina, Hugo. I'm not entirely sure that the masses grasp what a wide spread there is between a T.S./minimal hurricane, and a Cat. 4-5.

Yeah, yeah. I don't need a lecture. I've lived in Florida my whole life. I know you can still run into trouble with a Cat. 1, if you act like a total idiot. Yes, if you insist on going out driving while the core of the storm is upon you, you can blur roads and bodies of water, and wind up in a canal. You can inadvertently touch a downed power line. You can run your generator in a non-ventilated area and die of carbon monoxide poisoning. I know all of this, trust me. Yet I do believe that if you use common sense, you can make it through a Cat. 1-2 without much of a problem. It's not THAT big of a deal, it really isn't. Be prepared. Shutter up, have plenty of water, flashlight, radio and batteries, set up a couple coolers with plenty of ice, and don't do anything stupid. You'll make it. You might be uncomfortably hot for a couple days without power, but you'll make it.

The masses don't know this, though. They think every TS or Cat. 1 is equivalent to Andrew or Katrina. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet the networks and news people just hype it and hype it.

The problem is, they are doing themselves a disservice, and they are going to get people to be complacent for future more serious storms! They will lose public trust QUICKLY if they keep it up!!

Listen .. we obviously don't know what's going to happen with Fay up here in central Florida yet. But judging by reports from Key West, there was not that much rain .. at least not much more than your average heavy Summer thunderstorm, and the power down there is still on. I read a post in another thread where one guy called his friend in Key West who laid down for a nap before the first eyewall hit and said "when is this thing supposed to get here?" His friend told him he slept through the entire thing. Still, the locals are hyping this thing as if Charley were on its way!

Like you, I've lived in Florida my entire life. I am a fourth gen Floridian, and I am well versed in Hurricanes, Trop stroms, etc. But the fact is the time to prepare for a H'cane isn't the night before "the BIG ONE hits!" It's May when you make those plans. Tonight, on my way home, every gas station except the fourth one I went to was out of gas. I was just trying to get gas because I happened to be less than a 1/4 tank. The hype is unnecessary, and counter-productive, and eventually might get people killed because they aren't going to believe it when the actual disaster storm hits!

But then .. it's not like my posting my complaints here is going to change their minds. And yes .. I did write to the two worst offenders today .. the NBC and the CBS station. If the Olympics weren't on this week, my TV would be OFF!