By: Dr. Josh Eachus
((As seen on wbrz.com))
Louisiana and Mississippi are among the most hurricane prone areas in the nation. Every year, various media outlets, including the WBRZ Weather Team, spend hours piecing together special broadcasts, news reports and online content all in advance of the season. Year after year and story after story, the message is sent, repeated, suddenly jumbled and eventually lost.
By: Josh Eachus
As early as 1961, Charles Fritz expressed a need for people and pertinent practitioners to understand the anatomy of a disaster in order to fully grasp the human psychological and societal impacts they present. Many associate disaster with earth processes such as weather and climate. However, it is possible for earthquakes and hurricanes to occur without affecting people. If a tree falls…
By: Matt Bolton
Weather is important to all people, whether they realize it or not. It affects them physically and psychologically on small scales (e.g., in behavior and clothing choice), and on large scales (economies, critical infrastructure, etc.). Within this is the widespread occurrence of extreme weather threats across the United States.
I’m sick of seeing snow totals maps. Perhaps more than anything else in the industry, they perpetuate a perception that forecasters don’t know what they’re doing. Yet we continue to indulge.
At thewxsocial.com, we’re frequently examining the struggle of communicating flood dangers. From Houston to Baton Rouge, we have pointed to countless challenges during heavy rain events that strand drivers and claim lives. Melissa Huffman submits several factors that may constrain action to areal and flash flood warnings like lack of familiarity with the flooded area, to being in a warning message restrictive setting like a vehicle. Perhaps it is all just disconnect from messenger to receiver. I have even suggested an alternate framing of the warning message to circumvent the “I can make it” mentality. But now, another city on the Gulf Coast is instituting a simple road sign that could become flood safety’s biggest ally since “turn around don’t drown.”
By: Joe Lauria
As I’ve talked about in previous blogs, my feeling is that the public…my customers…don’t pay attention to the vast majority of severe thunderstorm warnings (SVRs). This is NOT a criticism of the issuing of the warnings from the National Weather Service (NWS)–they have a mandate to follow–rather, this is more of an issue with the criteria and the end results of what typically happens after storms move through.
By: Mike Nelson
Here are some of my thoughts about Global Warming. While this topic has stirred up controversy and some strong reactions, it truly is pretty simple science – when you add HEAT to something, it gets WARMER!
