THE SKY IS STILL THERE – CHECK IT OUT – AT 10:30 A.M. ET:  Was that a hurricane that passed by the East coast, or what? 

We are regularly amused here by wildly exaggerated weather stories.  It's no secret that "the sky really is falling" stories are very good for TV ratings, and so we're never surprised by weathercaster hysteria.  In New York, in particular, snowstorms rarely live up to their advance billing, sometimes depositing a flake or two.

I recall one particularly hilarious TV report of some years ago, when a reporter, doing his stand-up from a shelter, enlightened us as to the "human suffering" of the storm in question.  In the background were some elderly folks having a grand old time at Red Cross expense.  I think there was some rain.

Hurricane Earl has now passed.  Did anyone notice?  NewsBusters reports on the off-their-meds coverage by the Boston Globe before the storm even arrived:

The Boston Globe, long notorious as promoters of global warming doom and gloom -- see Ross Gelbspan, for example -- sometimes get embarrassed by the actual climate. On "The Green Blog," the Globe's Beth Daley projected that a "global warming double punch" could make Hurricane Earl much worse for Massachusetts -- except when it actually passed by, it turned out to be a dud for Bostonians and it could be watched on the coast with a glass of wine:

The large waves, storm surge, and flooding that Hurricane Earl will spawn as it strikes Massachusetts tomorrow night comes with an added dollop of trouble; Sea level rise.

Very gradual -- and in some cases accelerating -- rises in sea level off our coast over the last century will boost the height of Earl’s storm surge -- expected to be one to four feet -- meaning the wall of water will be able to travel that much farther inland and over higher elevations to flood basements, streets, and other low-lying areas....

As the great Jack Webb used to say, "The facts, ma'am, just the facts."

Obviously, we caution that many weather reports turn out to be accurate, and we should always take precautions.  But, too often, the drama turns out to be much greater than the trauma.

September 5, 2010