Yeah. So it's nearly 4:30 a.m., and I have been up since the tornado sirens went off sometime just before 3:00ish. I won't be sleeping until the entire storm has passed (or until I'm at my desk in a few hours...LOL), so I figured now was a good moment to share the insightful weather moment of the day.
I was on Channel 6, which is substandard to Channel 8, but I was watching the big game, so Channel 6 it was. And the guy was talking about the rotation pattern of this storm, and he said, "It's what we call a hook, because it looks like a hook."
Um, DUH! This is the same guy who came up with the brilliant definition of scary clouds.
Anyway, carry on with your...sleep. I'll be here, keeping watch.
7 comments:
Someone should constantly videotape this weather guy and then send the tapes to Letterman.
I had a similar experience last summer, when I wanted to be watching the baseball game and was instead forced to watch a TV meteorologist showing the same radar clips, saying the same things about them, again and again. But my pique gave way to pity as I saw a sort of trapped look creep into his face, while he was desperately trying to think of an even slightly different way to say the same thing (usually with unfortunate results). Then I realized that he was absolutely alone out there. When he ran out of things to say, he couldn't say "Over to you," because there was no "you." The only respite allowed him was to cut to a commercial, and I suspect those had to be run at specific times. I suspect this because I could almost see him counting down the time to the next commercial. (Or perhaps he was wondering for the 10-to-the-xth time why oh why he didn't take that NOAA job when they offered it to him.) What the poor fellow did for bathroom breaks, I don't even want to think about. And he had to keep going with this for nearly 2 hours! Even Senators during a filibuster don't have to go that long without relief, and they get paid a lot more than our poor weather guy. Of course, they're older, mostly. So next time it happens, I think that I will sorrowfully turn my face away from another human's agony, and with a pitying sigh, press the Off button.
I feel so sorry for that poor fellow! But down here in "tornado alley," at the slightest hint of a threat, we've got a whole team of weather-folk on the air, tag-teaming it with all the latest weather-tracking technology, plus storm-chasers giving on location footage and descriptions. It's all pretty high tech, and there's usually enough action somewhere so that there's something interesting to talk about...or else they really do go back to regular broadcasting because down here, if it's not immediately life-threatening, most people don't care.
Of course, as my roommate pointed out the night of these storms, there are some occasions when a storm is going over towns with a population of, like, 8 people, and would it really be so difficult for them to just call those people individually to warn them to take cover rather than taking up air time from the rest of us not in danger? But I digress....
The channel that I like for weather (and not just because one of the weather guys is hot!) doesn't give me any problems because all of the meteorologists say relatively intelligent things, even in their 5-hour (or more) weather broadcasts.
But this guy from the other channel...I don't know. Maybe you're right that I should just feel sorry for him and leave him alone.
At least you guys get some variation on the weather! I think they just need to film four weather reports for the whole year here: one for each season. Spring: Low in the upper 30s, high up to mid-70s, sunny, becoming breezy in the afternoon, chance of precipitation in the evening. Summer: High in the 90s, low in the 50s, sunny. Our weather guys just look bored.
You're talking to the girl who was up all night that night with severe storms. I am rather envious of your weather situation, to tell you the truth.
I like storms, usually. But you can keep your hail, as well as what "we call a hook".
There was an actual tornado here that night, which is rare enough that I would have thought it would bring every able-bodied weather person in a 3-county area charging into the studio to get their share of the excitement. But no, they apparently stayed home, and left the one poor guy all by himself with his techie tools. And me, hoping against hope that when he ran out of things to say, they'd go back to the ball game... does that make me an incurable optimist?
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