Calling Jim Cantore
We don't have Double Doppler or Super Doppler or Super Double Doppler. We don't have Trueview or Skycast. We don't have "team coverage." We don't talk about "precipitation events" when we don't know whether it will snow or rain.
We do have cool jackets with our company's name stenciled in, but you have to buy them.
In this morning's paper, we don't have an article about the snow or sleet or whatever it is out there. That's purposeful. The frozen precipitation event occurred after we went to press. By writing about it last night when it was only raining, we'd have had a story that told you less than you'd have known simply by looking out the window when you awoke.
With the rise of the Internet, the Weather Channel and frequent break-ins on local television channels, the newspaper is probably not the first stop for people interested in severe weather forecasts. There are too many other places that can give you more up-to-the-minute predictions. (Their accuracy is an entirely different matter.)
We acknowledge that. We spend less time and space writing about weather than we did five years ago. (I know; I've ordered up more than my share of weather stories. Once, when I suggested we write about the heat, an editor looked at me and said, "It's August in Greensboro. It's supposed to be hot.") We have the standing weather report on the back page of the local section and the weather at a glance on A1, which, at my house at least, covers most of the weather forecasting needs.
Of course, when the weather causes destruction or major inconvenience, we'll write about it and provide information on useful services, such as how to drive in the snow and the city's street scraping routes. We will also continue to write about upcoming weather if it appears as if it is going to be significant, like, an extreme precipitation event. I'm not guaranteeing that you've read the last story on the rush to buy bread and milk, but you are seeing fewer.
Comments (7)
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If it would make you feel any better, I can post one of your reporters along an icy overpass, pan the camera down while they kick at the snow, before they toss it over to someone in the exact same conditions...Works for us.
Posted on February 28, 2005 11:43 AM
We don't need technology, this will suffice.
We have a new weather forcasting system .
It's called "A Weather Chain". Here's how it works. Hang a 4 foot long piece
of chain most anywhere in your back yard where it will be exposed to the
weather. The end of the clothes line pole arm will work. Look out at it or go
feel of it two or three times a day. If it is white, put on your snow boots.
If it is wet, put on your rain coat and hat. If it feels cold, put on your
heavy coat. If it feels hot, a short sleeve shirt will work. If it is swinging
back and forth, go fly a kite. And if it is standing straight out at a 90
degree angle, HEAD FOR THE BASEMENT OR ANY OTHER TORNADO SHELTER THAT IS
AVAILABLE!
Posted on February 28, 2005 12:39 PM
To read in the N&R about the weather typically means "what is" or "what was". Anything else would better come from the FARMERS' ALMANAC. And what the Almanac prognosticates was published about a year ahead and sometimes does better than what a real weatherman can forecast the night before an event. And the 'chain' method is one I'm going to have to try.
Posted on February 28, 2005 5:49 PM
I use a weather rock.
If it's wet it's raining. If it's white it's snowing. If it's gone I got hit by a tornado.
My weather rock has never failed me, TV weathermen have.
Posted on February 28, 2005 8:13 PM
Gotta love the chain method.
And you know, Lens? My favorite is when the anchors tell me not to go outside unless I really have to.
Posted on February 28, 2005 8:13 PM
Try hearing that through a frozen earpiece while you lose circulation in your legs and almost pass out from the Live Truck's generator's fumes. It's enough to make an aging cameraman dream of a second career...
Posted on February 28, 2005 11:25 PM
Now I dun heared tell bout that thar chane thang. Hit werks ceptun ya gotta go outadoors to chek it.
Ole Buck ,my favorate dawg has werked jist fin fer yars. I sent him out an iffen he come in wet,hits rain. Iffen he got sno on him ,hit snowd. Iffen he hid undar the bed hits gonna com a tarnader, dawgs seemin on knowin them thangs. Iffen he gone out and dont com back to the hause fer cuple days, hits fine out cuz he be out doggin (or corten as folks say). Hit dun werked fer me a rat smart bit now. When Ole buck be off doggin , heck I jist look out the winder, dont need no so called edjeketed wether feller to tell me whuts goin on.
Posted on March 3, 2005 8:05 AM