Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Hurricane Irene: Hey Media, It's not just about where you live.

Prior to Hurricane Irene coming up the coast, the media, particularly cable began to focus non-stop on the worst-case scenario for NYC,  That was the narrative for the week.  Even before it passed the narrative changed - the worst didn't happen in NYC, so the whole storm was overblown.

As that new narrative began to take root, word began to leak out on Monday that NJ, upstate New York and western new England were being devastated by record floods due to the rain from the storm.  Today that is the new story. Nate Silver does a good job dissembling the overhyped narrative.

The media also wants you to believe that this was unexpected, but the truth is forecasters warned about it and emergency planners were taking that scenario into account.  But it wasn't in the Big Apple where so much of the media is based and they expected themselves to be the center of the story, their egos wouldn't allow themselves to take into account the whole story. And any weather or disaster expert will tell you, tropical systems are much than where the eye is and what the highest wind gusts are.

Check out the video below of the Deerfield River in Shelburne Falls, MA:

 
 

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