Oklahoma City - my sympathies

[steve2470]

As some of you know, I'm the weather nerd over at http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1232

The other day, the tornadoes near OKC caught my eye. So I went to the local media to watch. I was pretty impressed with their coverage and also with their earnestness and down-to-earth quality. I'm used to hyper-smarmy and oh-so-funny-and-sophisticated coming out of Orlando, so OKC was a breath of fresh air to me.

So I got a bit curious and read a bit. WOW, you all in OKC get slammed online. I don't think I need to repeat what gets said.

I thought Orlando and Florida in general got slammed. My sincere sympathies!

[avebury]

1. My problem with OKC weather reporting

is that the local stations start to hype bad weather 5 or more days ahead of a projected event. That is way way to early as conditions as the models are changing too much to come up with accurate predictions. I live in Oklahoma City and there are too many times when they really miss the boat on their predictions.

I don't know which online site you monitored but I would definitely not recommend KFOR (Mike "Chicken Little the Sky is Falling" Morgan}. Last year we had a weather event that he actually was on air telling people that if they could not get below ground they needed to get out of the area. The highways and roads were inundated with panicked people trying to flee when a tornado was approaching resulting in grid lock. That was the storm that there were several drowning deaths of people who were trying to get below ground. Morgan tried to deny that he told people to get out of the area but he did because I heard it myself. He was extremely irresponsible.

I tend to get my weather notifications from US National Weather Service Norman Oklahoma and Aaron Tuttle, both on Face Book. Aaron Tuttle used to be a local meteorologist and he makes pretty rational, accurate weather predictions. The TV guys tend to drive people around here crazy because their predictions are so out there and they now have credibility issues. They cry wolf way way too many times. They have reached to point that, even when predicting a slim chance of storms you know that if there will be hail they will be baseball size hail. Any hail is going to be golf to softball to baseball size hail no matter how slim to nothing the chance of a storm. And of course the wind speeds will be 50-60 MPH winds at least.

Once a storm hits, I may bounce back and forth between KOCO and KWTV but I don't obsess over it. US National Weather Service Norman OK will tell me what I need to know.

[steve2470]

2. I was watching KWTV

As with all TV news and weather, the main guy did overhype it a bit. I'm so used to that here in FL, that I mentally dial it down a few notches. Here in FL, we get thunderstorms. No kidding. They are usually pretty routine, some local flooding sometimes, lightning, rarely hail. OMFG they make it seem like tornadoes are about to hit any second!!!!!!!eleventy So yea, I'm used to the overhype. I wonder why $$$$$$$$

That's really bad about that Morgan guy.

[avebury]

3. David Payne used to be the morning weather guy

on KFOR and a storm chaser. He has actually calmed down a lot since his KFOR days. I have heard him some and he seems to have matured and actually stops to think before he speaks. He is the only one of the 3 evening TV weather guys that is more apt to try to keep a calmer tone. When the other 2 guys might be entering into the chicken little mode he might actually say it is too soon to say for sure and we just need to keep an eye out and wait for updated models.

His predecessor, Gary England, is a legend in weather forecasting around here.

[steve2470]

4. he seemed to try not to push irrational ideas

He gives people plenty of warning but he labels it as a possibility only. In OKC, from what I know, you get tornadoes around on a pretty regular basis. I respected what he and the others had to say because tornadoes were either there or were going to be there soon. In my neck of the woods, tornadoes happen often over water but less often where I am. Very much chicken little here. We haven't had a notable tornado in years.

[KatyaR]

5. David Payne is horrible.

Of course, comparing him to Gary England is a losing battle for anyone else. I simply cannot stand watching David Payne anymore, which makes me sad, because I greatly admire their storm trackers, but I just can't handle him yelling and not listening when someone's trying to tell him something.

Heaven help me, I've started watching the local FOX affiliate for weather when it's bad. The other night, they had 2 meterologists, a man and a woman, who were trading off time. They were calm and never hyped anything. There were chasers out in the field, but they didn't have video running constantly from the trucks. They took their reports off air and passed them on. They never used the situation to promote their news and weather. They were on the air for at least five hours, and it was all extremely calm and professional, and I am greatly impressed.

I won't watch FOX for news, but when it comes to weather, I think I've found a new home.