Serious question here

How badly is the media overhyping tropical storm/Category 1 hurricane Alberto? And how long is this going to continue?

I live in the Midwest and they're talking about it up here in the first five minutes of the news.

By no means am I trying to downplay or make light of how horrible Katrina and the aftermath. I also feel for those affected by Alberto. But is the net result going to be every tropical depression/storm/hurricane getting ridiculously overhyped for the next year...or two?

I'm interested in everyone's take on this, especially those who live in said affected area(s).

 

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

 

To a degree, there probably will be some extra hype. But one of the things that can be dangerous is when people underestimate what a "small" storm can do. For example, TS Allison (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Allison) or Katrina when it hit Florida as a Cat 1. The NWS routinely overplays the strength of storms (there are hurricane warnings up for Alberto, which will never be that strong) because people have become so jaded that they have to go to new extremes to try and scare them into action.

 

NBC in Boston had a small box over the time and temp with a Doppler of T.S. Alberto nearing the Big Bend (newly learned geographical area) over the entire newscast (sans weather and the segment 1 hit).

 

This is off-subject, but tremendous Nordiques sig there KP.

 

Merci beaucoup.

 

[threadjack] What was the Nordique supposed to represent? For my non-hockey family and friends (which is, uh, everyone), we always thought it was an elephant with a hockey stick. True or false? [/threadjack]

 

http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nhl/quebec/nordiques.html

It means, "people of the north."

The Nordiques were the northern-most franchise in the old WHA.

 

The average date for the first hurricane of the season is Aug. 14, I believe.

Alberto, if it gets there, would be the earliest hurricane to hit Florida in 40 years.

 

And there's the hook that's getting the storm so much play. This is a blizzard in August.

 

WTF are you doing bringing back a thread from June 2006?

 

What the holy hell? Why dig this up?