Tornadoes Versus the National Championship Game?

By -
People have no idea the pressure that TV meteorologists are under in a tornado warning situation. I devote an entire chapter to it in my book, Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather. If there are problems with the warnings, people may very well loose their lives.

There is a potential weather situation coming up that will be extremely challenging for the meteorologists at Wichita's KWCH TV (CBS) Monday evening, it it pans out: If the Wichita State Shockers defeat Louisville in the Final Four game Saturday afternoon, they will play in the championship Monday evening.

Preliminary forecast for Monday evening in the KWCH viewing area? Tornadoes.
National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center
Wichitans love -- and I mean love -- Wichita State University basketball and this year's team in particular.  Here is a photo of the team plane departing Mid-Continent Airport for Atlanta yesterday afternoon. Plus, the city is basking in the national attention (today's article in the Wall Street Journal here).
Wichita Eagle photo
Of course, the goal of television meteorologists is to save lives. But, break into the national championship basketball game for storm coverage with the home team playing??!!

I just spoke with KWCH meteorologist Ross Janssen and when I asked, "What are you going to do if tornado warnings are issued?" I first got a nervous laugh. He then said they were "looking at it."The preliminary plan would be to do continuous storm coverage on their sister station KSCW (and advertise it), run "crawls" over the game with each warning, and do live break-ins during the game's commercials.

My wish: The Wheat Shockers make the national championship game but the tornadoes go away -- in favor of a nice rain for the 2013 winter wheat.

Comments

  1. ToddMOApril 5, 2013 at 3:32 PM

    I have seen it and heard of people in my local area complain about constant severe weather interruptions by local TV weatherman when they are trying to watch a network TV program.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hilary's Forecast Path Shifts West; Updated 9:20am PDT

By -
Image
The forecast path of the center of Hilary has shifted a bit to the west. This increases the threat to the Southland, especially in terms of flooding.  Rainfall Note the heavy rains are forecast for Los Angeles County. Serious flash flooding may result. Because the forecast path has shifted to the west, that increases the threat of serious flooding in Los Angeles County north into Yosemite and the southern Sierra. It lessens the threat in Utah and western Arizona. While the threat of widespread flooding in Utah and Arizona lessens, note that some thunderstorms with localized heavy rain show up on the map.  In Nevada, the more western path increases the risk of serious flooding around Mt Charleston and into the central part of the state.  Here is the updated  (9am PDT) flash flood risk map. Wind There are already about 40,000 people without power in California, mostly in the center of the state.  The maps above are the peak gusts forecasted with the storm. The highest winds, in general,
Read more

Dangerous Travel Conditions - People Reportedly Stranded

By -
Image
-- Note, more current info available. Scroll up. --- Updated Information as of 8am PDT You are risking your life if you attempt to travel through the purple area.  While the rain has not begun in coastal California, I would urge you to use this time to make any preparations. Power outages have occurred already in southeast California. Here is the latest radar as of 7:55am PDT. As of 6:40am PDT , the radar indicates moderate to heavy rain falling over desert areas of Southern California and far western Arizona (click to enlarge).  Rainfall amounts for the 24 hours ending at 7am PDT show more than two inches have already fallen. There are reports from reliable sources that roads are already washed out and that people are stranded in isolated parts of the desert.  Below is a high-resolution computer model's rainfall forecast from 5am PDT to 11pm PDT Sunday. More than a foot of additional rain is forecast to fall. This will lead to catastrophic flooding.  Here is a map of current watc
Read more

Update on Tornado and Wind Potential; 12 Noon PDT

By -
Image
There was at least one tornado and at least one funnel cloud yesterday.  --- original forecast --- Hilary (the swirly symbol) continues to move NNW paralleling the coast of Baja California, Mexico. The area outlined in red has a significant risk of tornadoe s the rest of the afternoon.  Below is a list of peak wind gusts so far.  Peak winds may increase farther north as the afternoon progresses.  Addition at 12 noon PDT: Sure enough, winds have increased.  Note: If you are in the San Diego area, I recommend not  traveling east on I-8. Heavy rains may cause flash flooding that will involve the highway. 
Read more