Tropical Anxiety

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In Warnings, I talk about the trend that started with The Weather Channel, to overreact to weather systems in the distant tropics. A week of anxiety followed by three days of actual watches and warnings.

The National Hurricane Center says there is a "low" chance of the system in the Atlantic developing in the next 48 hours.

Yet Facebook, and other social media, are featuring all kinds of forecasts and speculation about the future, if any, of this system.

This storm, if it develops, is ten days or so away. If it develops, many of the forecast tracks have it missing the U.S. altogether.

My advice? Even if you are in the Southeast, forget about this until Thursday or Friday then check back. You'll still have plenty of time to take precautions if a storm actually develops.

Comments

  1. BrianAugust 1, 2012 at 3:00 PM

    One of the leading culprits is Dr. Jeff Master's wunderblog. The hurricane season after starting strongly in June was dead in July. Most of the posters there get excited over a cloud in the N Atlantic.

    IMO, this blog over the past few years has degenerated from a site that had excellent discussion about tropical systems to something that could be written by Mr. Climate Change himself, Al Gore: http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html

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