Surely everyone should know by know that hurricanes involve very strong winds, heavy rainfall, flooding, and flying debris. And yet, each new hurricane has news channels sending some hapless weather reporter out into the storm to show them getting buffeted by the forces of nature. This is serious malpractice since the reporter could very easily get hurt or killed by getting hit with some flying object, as can be seen in this footage.
Fortunately this reporter was not hurt but I suggest that they preserve this clip and show it every time there is a hurricane to remind people how bad it can be, without risking anew the life of a reporter.
Knowing the extent of human stupidity, my first question is whether the channel sent him out, or whether he decided to do so
on his own because he thought it would make a better story.
People are not all that good at estimating risks, especially their own.
This is what Jim Cantore does. This is what he always does. I’m not saying it’s smart, but he may feel he has a reputation of fearlessness and drama to live up to.
Meteorologist Reed Timmer was there, too, on Pine Island when the surge came ashore. It was crazy there. It’s devastating.
Why send a person outside when they can just use an exterior camera set up earlier, and absurd graphics showing people what storm surge of x depth looks like.
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#1 flex
or, he thought it would be cool to be the ‘brave storm guy’.
Topical: A Weather Channel Veteran Explains Why the Hell They Stand in the Middle of Hurricanes
Although I agree with the sentiment, and at the risk of my comment being considered facetious, the post itself might actually be considered unnecessary as they won’t stop doing it.
And there will always be reporters who want to risk their lives in dangerous situations -- obviously to report the facts -- but also to get their names on the credits at the end of the news programme and get ‘universal recognition’.
Latest courtesy of the Sunday national news: people in trailer parks claim they didn’t evacuate the state because the warning to evacuate happened “too late”. They’re big mad about that, because apparently days and days of horrible pictures from Puerto Rico and warnings that Ian was going tot be huge and destructive wasn’t enough for these fools; they needed an engraved invitation and a stretch limo to show up to escort them to a 5-star hotel?
The worst storm I’ve seen was the 2020 derecho in Iowa, (it started in South Dakota and ended in Ohio, But Iowa got the worst).
The last video I’ve seen on youtube looks like it was from a doorbell cam, I think thats good enough. When a tv station switched to “All weather, all the time” their Road Warrior pulled off due to the wind blowing out their back window. There were a lot of cars going west, towards the storm.
The trailer park where my daughter lived has a storm shelter, I think its to small. The only damage I saw was a blown down car port.
It seems kind of silly to be there even if you know what you’re doing. It takes at least two people to do this sort of footage, a camera person and an on-screen personality. So even if everything goes well, they’re still two people who might need assistance to get out of the area after the storm. Or they might need the kind of help anyone else would, although I suppose the Slate article John Morales linked suggests they might be finding the best spots to weather the storm where a local might feel more tied to their existing residence.
Either way, if they’re standing there like fools in the storm there’s not much else to say about it. But in the aftermath I wonder how they manage to avoid taking up time and supplies from relief efforts that shouldn’t have to concern themselves with pampering fools.
Is it possible to report “both sides” of a storm?
@Marcus Ranum #9
Depends which side of the front you’re on.