Does the Weather Channel hype or help during storms?

When Tropical Storm Hanna headed toward Hatteras and Ocracoke during the first week of September last year, it was closely followed by Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel.

Cantore showed up in Hatteras to broadcast on the island on Thursday morning, Sept. 4.  That night he broadcast live from Hatteras village.  By the next morning, he was at Mirlo Beach in Rodanthe. And by Saturday, Sept. 6, the day the storm came ashore near the border of North and South Carolina, he was down south at Atlantic Beach.

No matter. Many local business owners thought that Cantore?s appearance here on the island two days before the storm caused visitors to pack up and leave, even though there was no evacuation order for Dare or Hyde counties.

Hanna was basically a non-event on the islands.  There was minimal rain for a tropical system.  Winds gusted to 60 mph or so after the storm came ashore south of us and traveled north through the state, well west of the Outer Banks.

There was soundside flooding from Avon north, and Highway 12 was closed for several hours. However, the charge from many local businesses was that The Weather Channel hyped this storm with Cantore?s reporting from the beach, where the breeze was hardly blowing, and that having the cable network around is bad for business.

This is not a new complaint.  It?s happened over and over, practically every time a storm threatens the Outer Banks.  And, in all fairness, other media also descend on the island to contribute to the perceived problem.

I like what Virginian-Pilot columnist Mike Gruss wrote the morning that Hanna blew through with little fanfare, except on The Weather Channel.

His column was about his easy-to-follow rule for hurricane survival:

?Look to your left.  Now, look to your right.

?If the person on either side of you is The Weather Channel?s Jim Cantore, prepare for a storm of biblical proportions.?

Cantore, for good or bad, has become the face of really nasty hurricanes.

So, it?s not unusual for folks to start getting nervous when they hear he?s coming to town.

That is what happened on Hatteras this week.

Jim Cantore came to the island for a day or so, and everyone ran to the Tropical Update on the Weather Channel to see what was going on.

The answer was nothing.

Cantore was basically here to hype the Outer Banks, in a business-friendly series entitled ??Why I Love Summer.?

While here, he did address the perceived negative impacts of The Weather Channel?s reporting of storms.

He interviewed several business people on the beach.

One of them was Allen Burrus, vice-chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners and owner of the Burrus Red & White Supermarket in Hatteras village.

Burrus was hopping mad about Cantore?s reporting during Hanna.  He is also not impressed by the cable network?s storm reporting in general.

That?s what he told Cantore in a live segment Monday night.

?While I was waiting to go on camera,? Burrus said later, ?he was talking about storms 100 miles off Africa that are totally gone now.?

That, Burrus thinks, is hype.

?I realize they (The Weather Channel folks) are a necessary evil, but the evil part is that they have to sell ads and to do that they have to hype it live every 20 minutes or so.?

Burrus added that he thought Cantore was ?gracious? and ?a real nice guy,? but he?s not eager to see him back here.

Sandy Sanderson, Dare County?s director of Emergency Management, also mentioned Cantore?s reporting on the storms off Africa.

?If you noticed, during the time of the visit,? he wrote in an e-mail, ?The Weather Channel was featuring a cluster of thunderstorms in the central Atlantic during the tropical update, leading you to believe that this was the beginning of an event. The National Weather Service didn’t even have it on the radar and in 48 hours it was gone. But during that period, the request for re-entry permits in my office tripled. Coincidence? Hardly.  But that is the effect it has.”

Sanderson also doesn?t care much for the incessant live reports from various areas on the coast when a storm threatens.

?Now, from an emergency manager?s perspective, hyping the storm that is heading straight for you and that track is supported by the National Hurricane Center, it works to our advantage as it grabs visitors? attention and people self-evacuate. Isabel, a serious threat, was an efficient evacuation of visitors because of this, and the trip insurance available now helps in that regard.

?The rub emergency managers have with the on-scene reports during the storm build-up when the evacuation has already been called is with (reporters) standing out in the extreme weather trying to demonstrate how ?bad? the storm may be.?

This, Sanderson said, is the ?wrong message.?

?They need to let (hurricane expert) Steve Lyons show more specific graphics ?.that demonstrate the high winds, high wind areas, storm surge areas, and rain accumulation. Be more pro- active.?

Danny Couch, owner of Hatteras Island Tours and a realtor, also was interviewed live by Cantore.  He has a somewhat different take on the situation.

?Based on what my friends have to say, I go against the grain,? Couch told writer Joy Crist. ?The Weather Channel has a job to do, and people?s memories are kind of short around here. Remember Hurricane Alex in August of 2004? If it hadn?t been for The Weather Channel, there would have been some serious carnage, worse than the damage that was done.
 
?Any publicity is good publicity,? Couch added. ?Even bad publicity is good publicity, and the fact that these guys come out here and love the area and the hospitality, well, you have to weigh the service that they provide and the responsibility that they have with our needs to make a living. When The Weather Channel shows up and starts giving storm forecasts from here, that?s just the reality. You have to find a way to make it work for you. I gave tours during Hurricane Ana, saying [to the passengers] ?Hey, it?s part of the adventure!??

Personally, I like Jim Cantore, also known in some circles as The Weather Stud.  I like to see the storm reporting, though it does get to be boring overkill ? unless the storm is heading for you.

And, if the storm is really at your doorstep, your power is probably out and you can?t view Jim Cantore anyway.
My own theory is that if Jim Cantore ? or Jeff Morrow, whose parents, Dee and Cliff, live here or anyone else from the Weather Channel ? shows up, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

They aren?t going to take a chance on seeing their expensive satellite trucks and other equipment go under water in a storm surge.

You can check out Joy Crist?s story on Jim Cantore?s visit to Hatteras on The Features Page.