Up on my Soapbox

As long time readers will remember, every once in a while I feel the need to get up on my Soapbox and let it fly. Today's target is our friend - the weatherman. As most of our shows are at least partially outdoors, my love/hate relationship with the weatherman is a complicated and twisted affair. My gripe today is the sensationalism with which they deliver the most benign forecast. Every weatherman at one point had dreams of a career as a sportscaster or even as the anchor. At some point in their career, someone took a long hard look and suggested that they simply didn't have the looks or chops to end up as the next Ron Burgundy. But work hard, go to weatherman school and perhaps you can craft a nice career attending block parties and interupting regularly scheduled programming to pass along a thunderstorm warning.

What these failed anchors soon learned was that the more dire they made the forecast, the more important they become. Forecast a thunderstorm, bumped up before sports, Tornado, Hurricane or Blizzard- you open the newscast and for that night- you are the anchor. Let's check back with Brick with his Annaconda 9000 Radar for an update.

Every weather forecast is full of outrageous adjectives- blazing, torrential, insipid and too many other word of the day calendar entries to mention. Please remember there are people who are trying to make a living outside. Any outdoor event can be scuttled by the mere mention of lightning. Please explain to your listeners that a 40% chance of rain means there is a 4 in 10 chance that it might rain where you are living on a given day for a certain duration, be it 4 minutes or 4hours. You are not telling them it is going to rain for 40% of the day. All I am asking for is the removal of crazy hysteria from the airwaves regarding the forecasting of weather.

I feel better already.