Was Irene Over hyped?

[louis c]

Of course not. The track was accurate, the intensity within any logical person's margin of error and the destruction substantial.

In making any prediction and reaction to that prediction in the case of an impending disaster, one should ask "what is the plausible worst case scenario, and let's plan accordingly".

How can anyone criticize the Government, the Meteorologists or the media for doing just that? 35 dead, 4 million without power, Vermont under water. Are you kidding me? They got it right, but not exactly right.

It's as if I predict the winner of a football game correctly, but miss the point spread. That may be devastating with a bookie, but it's A-OK in preparing me for a possible disaster.

All I can say to the powers that be, thank you for keeping me informed and remind everyone of Poor Richard's Almanac: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

[Historic NY]

1. Maybe even the Gov. thought so....he had a close call upstate.

http://www.wtnh.com/dpps/weather/us_wx_news/ny-gov-had-close-encounter-with-irene-nt11-jpe_3927105

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. No.

[DCBob]

3. It will be interesting to see what the response will be when the next one threatens this same area..

which could be very soon.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at2.shtml?5-daynl?large

[Fuzz]

4. well i have no power and everyone in my neighborhood with a basement is flooded.

So that sucks, but yes, overhyped.

[quaker bill]

5. All hurricanes seem over hyped

until you sit in the center hall of your house for 6 hours hearing the wind howl, large things crash to the ground, and unknown crap bouncing off the walls and roof... Then they all seem understated.

[Mz Pip]

6. If "over hyping" prepared people

and saved lives then that was a good thing IMHO.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Jaysus Christ, no.

The same thing happens in Florida. You prepare for each and every one of them because it's A) good practice and B) one day you'll get a Charlie.

[Kablooie]

8. Not to mention that predicting disaster sells a lot of news media.

[quinnox]

9. of course it was

The media always over-hypes hurricanes and disasters, it makes for good ratings.

[FLPanhandle]

10. Let NOAA answer

He said spin control isn't part of NOAA's mission. "We provide as much information as we can, based on what we know," Marks said. "What the public and decision makers do with that information is something that's out of our purview."

Marks acknowledged that some of the reports made the storm sound scarier than it really was. "If you looked at those scenarios that the media was getting ... the disaster scenario was extreme. That was for a major hurricane coming straight at them, not a weakening storm coming up the coast," he said.


The government did a great job predicting the storm with accurate and realistic forecasts. The media, however, over hyped Irene to be much more than the government said it would be.

[Riftaxe]

11. Only after it became Category 1 and hit land

after that point the hype was overblown, especially the comparisons to '38. To believe the hype after that you would have had to believe that magically Irene was not going to become a tropical storm.

[pscot]

12. Isn't everything?