I Need To Vent!!!!

[jinftl]

"The last thing this or any any Hurricane possible area need is hype when there is nothing to hype."

I can totally see what you are saying...but I can also see this line of reasoning....NOAA, William Grey, etc have been telling the news agencies for weeks that this is going to be a very active year. And it is pretty amazing..and newsworthy...that to drive that potential point home, we are looking at not the first, but the second named system of the year....on the official first day of the hurricane season!

If anything, I think alot of good can come from the media reporting on this like they did....i know as a resident of south florida, it definitely drove home a couple of points: 1. there is no question hurricane season is here, 2. it is starting off active. 3. experts are predictiing active, 4. i should not wait to have my hurricane plan and supplies in place....seeing a storm on day one, and seeing news media reporting from it, no matter how weak it was, reinforced what i should already know and already be doing....the time to prepare for this season should already have taken place....or should asap!

Seeing Barry and the news report drove home the urgency of not delaying to prepare for the season....i think alot of good might come from that.

[MortisFL]

When I watch the Tropics I usually stick to the boards/satellite imagery/model maps. There's no real need to watch the overhype on CNN/Fox,MSNBC, etc.

[Noah]

I get more information here and it is up to date as well.

[Dionne]

Tampa had better not get hit hard this season. I'm booked on a Carnival cruise in Jan out of Tampa. I was booked on a cruise out of New Orleans in Nov 2005 but it got cancelled due to Katrina. Hope this isn't a trend......MGC

For the first time ever we purchased trip insurance. We're going back to the West Indies.....with flights out of NOLA and Miami. In order to save some money we booked and paid in advance months ago. The cost of the insurance was 10%......kind of pricey. I've since read the average should be around 5-7%.

Sorry to hear that so many people are disconcerted with the media hype over Barry. We would gladly have taken the rainfall. I do know the early reports had me concerned. But then again I tend to freak out when it comes to hurricanes.

[Frank2]

That's the media for you, and, is why I won't watch local or cable news coverage of anything (unless it's directly necessary, of course) because the media love to make everything far more dramatic than it really is - my heart can no longer take the "breaking news" mentality of today's cable news stations...

I don't know - it seems that to be a "good" reporter in western media, a person has to be a salesman - and not a very honest one, at that...

I'm old enough to know that it wasn't always like this - 30 or 40, or even 45 years ago, newscasters just reported the news. Sure, those in newspaper at that time could be pretty thick-skinned, but, television and radio reporters largerly just gave an account of what was happening. Today, a reporter needs to be young, good-looking and about as aggressive as a car salesman - sad but true...

It's probably why a few brave souls in media decide to leave it behind for more honest employment - they might make less money, but, they probably are happier with themselves...

As Brian Williams (NBC) said about the media frenzy (just a few miles from here) over the passing of Nicole Simpson, which that day even eclipsed the war in Iraq - "Only in [our society] would this happen..."

Have a good day everyone (say a prayer for me - I'm back on road again today, after a brief hiatus)...

Frank

[Downdraft]

As Brian Williams (NBC) said about the media frenzy (just a few miles from here) over the passing of Nicole Simpson, which that day even eclipsed the war in Iraq - "Only in [our society] would this happen..."

Sure you don't mean Anna Nicole Smith?

[KQ]

Nicole Brown Simpson was killed about 1994. But ya, we get your point.

[Cookiely]

First let me thank you for letting me get this off my chest.

Its only been 2 days into the Hurricane season and the MEDIA especially CNN and the local stations in the Tampa area

have me pissed(I hope that acceptable language).

The last thing this or any any Hurricane possible area need is hype when there is nothing to hype.

Yes Barry was a named storm but as we all know, it was nothing more than a rain storm with no decernable weather

around the circulation except for a brief period after awhile,only the east/north quadrants had any real weather to it.

My point is ,when a serious situation arises where the potential is far greater for a hurricane threat, people will feel they

have been through it and since they handled Barry-they can handle a cat 2 with no problem.

The rain was great and needed but the the local stations having Barry all over the tv and papers when is was really just a

low pressure was way overdone.

Some of you may disagree with me and your opinions are welcomed but living here for 22 years ,complacency in this area

drives me bananas because people feel they have been through a hurricane when at best Jeanne / Frances were tropical

storms.

Bucman 1

Do you think this family will ever forget Barry? Just a rain event and nothing to speak of??
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBQYAGZG2F.html

[Category 5]

You're all actually suprised that this turned into a media circus? How could we expect anything less?

Fear for ratings. Sad but true.

[NFLnut]

I somewhat understand your position re: Barry, but you are TOTALLY wrong re: Frances and Jeanne! *I* remember being hammered with 90+ mph winds with Frances for about 14 hours, lost power for four days, and similar with Jeanne! All this while I had a 10 foot hole in my roof covered by nothing more than several layers of tar paper and tar over my kitchen that Charley left me!

.. AND I only live a 90 minute drive from you!

[Frank2]

Oops - you are both correct - I always did get their names mixed up (shows how much I follow that type of news)...

Ironically and unfortunately, both deaths were continually sensationalized by the media, long after both were gone from this life...

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

I must agree with bucman that when the Tampa Bay area does get
a true hurricane...people are going to be surprised by the
force and ferocity of it.

In the immediate
tampa bay area, right along the bay, frances and
jeanne had weakened to tropical storm force
55-65 mph over Tampa Bay. Right along the west coast and tampa bay the
highes wind speeds were of tropical storm force.
The only hurricane force gust along tampa bay during
the 2004 season was during jeanne at 78 mph, and
that was a gust. The sustained winds were in the 40s or
50s.

Basically, bucman wishes to illustrate that the
Tampa Bay Area has not experienced a hurricane
in 40+ years. The last Category 3 was in 1921.

Bucman's point is that frances and jeanne, as bad as
they were, and I know that they were both very Bad,
were tropical storms, not hurricanes, by the time
they arrived near Tampa and Saint Petersburg.

I will also emphasize that I at first thought I had
experienced a full blown category 1 or 2 with frances and
jeanne. But when I looked at the Wind Data, the highest sustained
winds I could find were in the 40s and 50s for my city and for Tampa.

This made me realize that I really have NOT experienced a hurricane
and that a true hurricane would have done much more serious
damage, and that in the event of anything above 70 mph,
I gotta get the heck out of where I live or I'll be swimming with
the fish gasping for air.

A lot of people living here who think they have been through
category 1-2s are going to be surprised whenever one really hits
Tampa Bay.
I have neighbors and friends who believe Frances and Jeanne
were Category 2's over Tampa Bay, and when I say that a
Category 2 would have been much worse...I get called insensitive.
The idea is: People think they have experienced MUCH WORSE
than what really happened.

Frances and Jeanne were NOT category 1-2 over Tampa Bay
They were moderate to strong tropical storms.

If a category 2 hits tampa bay, people will think it's a category 4 or 5,
with the current "logic" and tendency to exaggerate that is
in place.

[bucman1]

Tampa Bay Hurricane,

Thank you for your summary.

Thats exactly what I was trying to get across and to the person who insinuated that I am unsympathetic to the person who

lost a dog or a tree went through their house YOU ARE TOTALLY WRONG and mean no disrespect to them.

But mentally in my opinion this area(people living here) are not ready for a hurricane situation.

[hawkeh]

The media always hypes up these storms especially after the 05 season (remember what a joke Ernesto was yet they still hyped it to the extreme). Just do what I do and don't watch it...

[gatorcane]

I agree. FoxNews last night at 7pm had it as its lead story. They said, and I quote, "Florida braces for TS Barry." Braces? I just had to shake my head in bewilderment.

There was something in the Sun-sentinel I read this weekend that said something like "Florida under siege again."

The media needs to losen up. Give me a break.