Haven't Given Up Yet

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We are in Kingman in case the storms to our southwest, which have been slowly strengthening, start to develop. It has been a bit of a frustrating day. Mother Nature has outsmarted me, so far.

I found the following retweet curious...
Why is the Governor of Kansas re-tweeting storm warnings? While I appreciate the intent, I suggest politicians stick to politics and policy and let meteorologists handle the warnings.

Comments

  1. kingtownleyMay 29, 2013 at 10:05 PM

    He didn't make the warning, he only retweeted it. Relax.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike SmithMay 29, 2013 at 10:25 PM

    Mr. Townley: Mayor Bloomberg didn't create the Sandy warning but he completely screwed up the messaging resulting in people failing to evacuate. That is not my opinion, the after-Sandy reports came to the same conclusion.

    The President of the U.S., during his visit, misstated the amount of warning received by Moore last week. http://www.livescience.com/34770-president-obama-thanks-tornado-forecasters-in-oklahoma.html

    If you had to deal with as many miscommunication issues involving politicians and meteorology as I, you would advise them to stick to politics, also.

    ReplyDelete
  3. TracyMay 30, 2013 at 7:46 AM

    He's still a human being and a family man, I believe. I re-tweet for my friends and family if I think it might be interesting or pertinent -- don't know why you would expect anything different from a guy just because he's governor...
    (and he is re-tweeting, quoting a valid news source -- you consider that possible miscommunication?)

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 30, 2013 at 8:02 AM

    I have to agree with kingtownley on this one. All the governor did was retweet the warning posted by a NEWS organization. He did not add or subtract to the warning, did not give his own interpretation. He passed on word for word a warning. Perhaps there were some folks who do not follow KWCH that received the warning. Had he gone on TV and added his opinion of the storm your concerns would be valid but he did not do so. You might as well scold the KWCH tweeter because how do we know that was a trained meteorologist?

    By your logic Mike any of us who hear of a weather warning on TV and then pick up the phone to call grandma or some other family member to pass on the message are wrong to do so because we are not weather experts. If I read word for word a warning issued by the NWS how can that warning be diminished in any way by my not being a meteorologist? Pick your battles...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mike SmithMay 30, 2013 at 8:21 AM

    To all three of you, thank you for your comments.

    Here is the problem (as I see it): There is no expiration time in the original tweet. By the time that retweet showed up in my twitter stream, it looked like the threat had largely passed. Now, it could be Gov. Brownback retweeted in a timely fashion and there was some other problem.

    When I retweet a warning, I always make sure it is timely. I'm often bouncing around the country looking at radar images to insure the retweet is correct. I doubt the Governor does that.

    That said, I may be influenced in this instance because of the tremendous amount of misinformation last week regarding Moore promulgated by politicians (NOT Gov. Brownback).

    ReplyDelete

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