More weather channel idiocy?

[Bengalsfan]

Are they now naming winter storms?

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Yes. They want everyone to have a personal connection with Caesar.

Regrettably, Caesar is not the chimp from "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", but rather the winter storm blowing through Iowa today.

 

[KML0224]

This subject was mentioned some time back already. It's part of why I went to weather.gov, which is run by NOAA. Much less gimmickry, just the forecast and more in-depth technical information.

 

[crainbebo]

Pretty soon it will be "Heatwave Zeus"!

-crainbebo

 

[Bengalsfan]

My wife had TWC on earlier this morning and they kept referring to "Caesar" and I couldn't figure out just what the hell they were talking about. I just had to sit there for a minute and let the stupidity of naming a freaking winter storm wash over me.

I had long ago given up on weather.com. Too much flash just bogged down my poor computers. I use weather.gov and pass it on to other friends and relations as being a great alternative to the crap that weather.gov is bogged down with.

Just.....damn.

 

[nathannah]

There was one local station I used to get that named winter storms. It was beyond silly, but at least it made sense because the name only applies to ONE market area and the region's criteria for snowstorms, so an inch in Minnesota isn't a nameable storm in a market like that.

Nationally though? This "Caesar" was a storm that only applied to grassy areas where I am because the concrete was too warm. It did literally nothing to us.

 

[azumanga]

There was one local station I used to get that named winter storms. It was beyond silly, but at least it made sense because the name only applies to ONE market area and the region's criteria for snowstorms, so an inch in Minnesota isn't a nameable storm in a market like that.

Nationally though? This "Caesar" was a storm that only applied to grassy areas where I am because the concrete was too warm. It did literally nothing to us.

I believe that it's WFSB in Hartford that has named winter storms, a tradition that started back when the station was the original WTIC-TV.

That being said, there definitely will be some confusion when there's a winter storm bearing down on New England, and TWC and WFSB have different names for it.

 

[anotherguyTN]

There was one local station I used to get that named winter storms. It was beyond silly, but at least it made sense because the name only applies to ONE market area and the region's criteria for snowstorms, so an inch in Minnesota isn't a nameable storm in a market like that.

Nationally though? This "Caesar" was a storm that only applied to grassy areas where I am because the concrete was too warm. It did literally nothing to us.

I believe that it's WFSB in Hartford that has named winter storms, a tradition that started back when the station was the original WTIC-TV.

That being said, there definitely will be some confusion when there's a winter storm bearing down on New England, and TWC and WFSB have different names for it.

Which is why if Winter storms are going to be named it should be done by NOAA, not TWC or local stations.

 

[crainbebo]

A lot of the Seattleites call snow "snowpocalypse" or "snowmaggedon" because one inch always makes anchors hyper as morning coffee caffeine. "Stay off the roads, all schools are closed, we are expecting up to an INCH TODAY! "

I love North Dakota weather forecasts. When there's snow in Fargo, it's treated like a light shower here. See any school buses out there in two feet of snow? I think so...

-crainbebo

 

[raptusregaliter]

Speaking of weather idiocy, if you live in Atlanta and watch the NBC affiliate, you get to experience "The Wizometer"--a deservedly-mocked bit of nonsense wherein the weather staff puts their heads together and rates the day's weather on a 1-10 scale. "Tomorrow will be...a 7!" "Thursday looks like...a 9!"

The weather graphics for the five-day used to give the Wizometer number the largest amount of space while the highs and lows were relegated to much-smaller, harder to read type. As if people really cared that chief meteorologist Weather McStormy thinks that tomorrow will be a 6 or an 8 or a 4 or a 2. At least now the highs and lows are more prominent on the graphic. More depressingly, the Wizometer numbers are now charted on a 5-day graph like stock market quotes. How this is of any benefit to anyone is beyond me. I guess it could be useful if someone were trying to bet on the weather or corner the market in sunshine futures, but that seems unlikely.

Not surprisingly, whoever came up with the stupid "Wizometer" name got to see his/her idea excoriated on-line for days and days and days. As you might imagine, urine-themed jokes were extremely popular. Go figure...

 

[firepoint525]

I have a name for the flooding which hit middle and west Tennessee in 2010: "Nuisance," and probably some other words that are not printable here!

 

[Bengalsfan]

Not surprisingly, whoever came up with the stupid "Wizometer" name got to see his/her idea excoriated on-line for days and days and days. As you might imagine, urine-themed jokes were extremely popular. Go figure...

He's the Wiz-ometer and nobody beats him. Nobody!

 

[R.D.P.]

The Weather Channel is a joke now.

I still watch them but not like I once did.

R.D.P. <><

 

[mr.ric]

That's why I don't bother to tune in anymore. I just stick to their app on my iphone and that's it.

 

[searadiofreak]

The problem with the Weather Channel is they cannot cover the entire country where the locals can. If you have a asevere storm bearing down on your area, you will tune to your local stations, some better than others. The Weather Channel is becoming irrelevant because of this. The Weather Channel may be good for a couple of minutes of general summary, but when severe weather hits, this channel is inferior, and you need to switch to your locals.