For the fifth or sixth time in the last few weeks, ABC15 has gone in weather hyper mode and interrupted regular programs (around their normal evening news period) to cover the approaching (and now a regular occurance) dust storm from the south. Last night it was Randy Collins going on and on about the same thing, showing the same camera views from ADOT, South Mountain or the ABC15 studio and then back to the radar which was showing very little. When they did have some great shots from the helicopter, nobody knew where the helicopter was located or where the camera was pointed. One shot showed dust rolling over the edge of a mountain. At first they thought is was Camelback and then no maybe it is South Mountain, then after the shot panned around, they were now convinced it was Camelback. Now Randy starts blabbering about if you have friends hiking Camelback you may want to call them and tell them to stay put for a while (4:30 on Saturday afternoon when the temperature is around 110°...how many people were actually hiking at that hour). I'm not sure how long this extended coverage went on but a shot on Facebook showed the whole crew looking exhausted and sharing pizza.
With the dust storms becoming almost the norm, the people who will be most affected by it are those in cars driving on the highways. How many of them are watching TV to find out where the dust is located and where it is moving? Just seems like a lot of hype for something that happens every other day in the Valley.
With the dust storms becoming almost the norm, the people who will be most affected by it are those in cars driving on the highways. How many of them are watching TV to find out where the dust is located and where it is moving? Just seems like a lot of hype for something that happens every other day in the Valley.
