southerngale wrote:melhow, if putting the words "Dennis?" below the forecast 6 days out causing ANYONE to panic and they perceive it as time to "FREAK OUT", I believe the problem lays with the individual, not the weather forecaster.
So true!
this looks like a texas storm
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southerngale wrote:melhow, if putting the words "Dennis?" below the forecast 6 days out causing ANYONE to panic and they perceive it as time to "FREAK OUT", I believe the problem lays with the individual, not the weather forecaster.
Geeze, did I offend all of Texas or something? I apologize, because I really don't want to have bad blood on the boards...
From what I can gather from the other posts regarding the particular station that this dumb graphic was on, it sounds like this is pretty much par for course as far as their reactive reporting of events goes. The whole point of my first post was to point out that it seems like that graphic was broadcast not to be informative, but to sensationalize the report to make it to be more suspensful and "good tv", and in my book, that's not a very good practice for the news to get into. It stirs people up when it is way to early to be anything but informed and prepared, makes them worry prematurely, and many times for no reason, and, as most the folks in my area in FL can attest to, eventually all of the dooms-daying can cause an unneccessary panic. Yes, people should be informed, and yes, I too believe that the responsibility is with the viewer when it comes to how he/she processes and acts on the info that they are being told, but c'mon, shouldn't the news shoulder some responsibility and ensure that the report that they broadcast is accurate and in proportion to the event in question?
Again, all that I'm saying is that silly graphics or broadcasts meant to sensationalize a report are bad news for a station if it has any hopes of maintaining credibility.
...and as a side-note, I am totally in favor of a mascot for the weather.
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jasons2k
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KPRC
I agree that the news media should be responsible. It irks me to no end to see reporting of innacurate facts or simply omitting key information.
I will say one thing in KPRC's defense in this one instance - the graphic actually served a purpose.
We all know it's still 5-7 days out. Texas could indeed be in the path. Too early to tell. So - what does your forecast say? You could say partly cloudy and 95 with a 20% chance of an afternoon. T-storm....just like every day here in July. Then, if you do that and Dennis comes charging to Texas, well, then, that forecast verifies completely wrong.
On the same token - it's a bit early to say "windy with rain, possibly with gale or hurricane conditions" - you can't do that either. You'd be seen as an irresponsible alarmist that way. SO, instead, they erred on the side of caution and stuck with the usual forecast but simply placed "Dennis??" (note the question marks) on there - which is exactly what it is - a possibility at this point.
As for mascots, I really don't have an opinion. Roy Leep's Scud was kinda cute. I lived in Dallas for almost 20 years and a weather mascot would have been viewed very much as a joke in that market. Now I'm in Houston and I really wonder if Frank Billinglsey has fallen off his rocker with "Radar".
I will say one thing in KPRC's defense in this one instance - the graphic actually served a purpose.
We all know it's still 5-7 days out. Texas could indeed be in the path. Too early to tell. So - what does your forecast say? You could say partly cloudy and 95 with a 20% chance of an afternoon. T-storm....just like every day here in July. Then, if you do that and Dennis comes charging to Texas, well, then, that forecast verifies completely wrong.
On the same token - it's a bit early to say "windy with rain, possibly with gale or hurricane conditions" - you can't do that either. You'd be seen as an irresponsible alarmist that way. SO, instead, they erred on the side of caution and stuck with the usual forecast but simply placed "Dennis??" (note the question marks) on there - which is exactly what it is - a possibility at this point.
As for mascots, I really don't have an opinion. Roy Leep's Scud was kinda cute. I lived in Dallas for almost 20 years and a weather mascot would have been viewed very much as a joke in that market. Now I'm in Houston and I really wonder if Frank Billinglsey has fallen off his rocker with "Radar".
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Houstonia
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Re: KPRC
jschlitz wrote:As for mascots, I really don't have an opinion. Roy Leep's Scud was kinda cute. I lived in Dallas for almost 20 years and a weather mascot would have been viewed very much as a joke in that market. Now I'm in Houston and I really wonder if Frank Billinglsey has fallen off his rocker with "Radar".
I used to have a lot of respect for Frank when he was with Channel 13. But he sold out when he moved over to KPRC. Now he's a nut like the resto f the crew!!
I DON'T LIKE MASCOTS!!
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GalvestonDuck
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