Monday, November 18, 2013
Blob specification
A regional misunderstanding showed up in a local news segment this morning. KXLY, the local ABC station, was taking their assigned slice of a national reporter's time, discussing the Peoria tornado. National man was pointing out that Illinois TV stations do a good job of warning people. He went on to make a sensible-sounding comparison: "I'm sure your local weathercasters have the same ability. They can show the big red blob advancing toward each neighborhood, and they can specify exactly when it hits each street."
Well, he's right about the technology. It's been around since the early '80s, and Midwestern TV has been using it since the early '80s. (Bless you, Gary England!)
The bad part: He assumed that the Midwestern level of competence applied everywhere. Wrong. Some of our weathercasters can't even read radar, and none of them use the hi-tech stuff he described.
The good part: Our weathercasters don't really need to use the tech, because we very rarely have red blobs. Lots of green blobs and blue blobs, but only three or four red blobs in a typical year. Blue blobs (i.e. snowstorms) are the main problem here.
¶ 6:33 AM 
