Latest Weather Forecast: 100% Chance of High Drama

I got a phone call from my mother last night, and it was rather frantic. She is due to fly out here to see us next week and all she could talk about was the status of the tropics and the oncoming hurricane. Puzzled, because I didn’t realize there was any such development, my deductive reasoning kicked in. I asked, “Mom, are you watching the weather channel?” She admitted that she was. With a sigh and phone in hand I logged on to wunderground.com to see if I could make any sense out the latest hubbub Jim Cantore is spewing in order to terrorize the naive amongst us (again). I found there was NOTHING. Well there was a small “disturbance” of the coast of Florida, but it is far south of us and is predicted to travel west, not north. I didn’t even bother to turn on the TV, what’s the point?

Ah yes the Weather Channel, the same respected cable network that pollutes our brain cells with garbage like "Tornado Week" and "Storm Stories." The Weather Channel is yet another “news” entity looking to profit from info-taining the public (i.e. scaring the bejesus out of little old ladies) rather than unbiased and yes sometimes BORINGLY reporting actual events. It’s a shame it can’t just rain anymore, sans the dramatic music, flashy graphics, and consummate video footage of stormy destruction.

Make no bones about it, TWC wouldn’t broadcast this crap if people weren’t watching it. Like rubberneckers at the scene of an accident we simply can’t tear our eyes away from imminent carnage. This link from Scientific American tries to explain our obsession with weather and its destructive power. Heck I even considered putting a weather widget on this site (and still might!) but by in large I’ve already tuned out the high drama weather coverage. If only I could convince my mother to do the same...