Wind chill haters, unite! When I was a kid, temperatures were temperatures, and if you did not have enough sense to dress for the cold, your mother did: “Put your mackinaw, leggings and hat on before you go out — and close the door behind you!”
Why all the hype in today’s weather forecasting? Why are we continuously bombarded with wind chill numbers rather than actual air temperatures?
It is all about getting and keeping the viewer’s attention. The more they can dramatize and embellish their weather coverage, the more likely the viewer will stay tuned.
Simply put, more viewers mean higher TV ratings. Higher ratings mean more advertising dollars and more advertising dollars mean more station profits. In other words, gloom-and-doom, Chicken-Littlethe sky-is-falling weather forecasting sells.
At one time, words like hazardous or life-threatening were used to describe dangerous storms. Weather forecasters now love to attach the word “killer” in front of these weather systems, especially if loss of life has occurred. Even the term “cold front” has been given new emphasis. Now they are referred to as a “polar vortex” and are even given a number.
It would not surprise me one day to be sitting in front of my TV and hear: “We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to report there is a killer polar vortex moving in from the north. Not only will we provide coverage of this killer arctic air mass that possibly could end life on earth as we know it, but we will be providing ‘team coverage’ — don’t touch that remote!”
It might be too much to hope for, but perhaps extending team coverage for “cloudy days” might be something worth looking into for the tell-it-like-it-ain’t weather forecasters.
Borden Applegate
Jackson