After several uneventful years and a slow start to the current season, the hurricane stuntmen from the Weather Channel have taken up posts along the East Coast, from the Carolinas to New England, ready to bring us eyewitness reports on the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irene. Now churning off the Georgia shore, the storm is forecast to move northward across eastern North Carolina and then sweep across the heavily populated corridor of the Northeast. While Irene has weakened to a Category 2 storm, her wind field is very broad and storm surge is the major concern, potentially bringing catastrophic flooding to coastal areas.
With bags packed since the first of June, the weather stuntmen (and stuntwomen) are waiting for the opportunity to stand in the wind and rain while, at the same time, are admonishing coastal residents to heed warnings and evacuate the region. If luck holds, they will be in the right spot to endure the brunt of the storm and, if their antics are dramatic enough, end up on future Weather Channel newsreels of severe weather events. Jim Cantore, the acknowledged king of weather disaster reporting, is stationed in New York City where Irene's impact could be especially devastating.
For all of the good work that the Weather Channel performs in the interest of public safety and education, it is prone to place too much emphasis on entertainment and its heroic hurricane stuntmen send the wrong message to citizens who, too often, are reckless in the face of threatening storms. Indeed, the Channel has spawned the dubious industry of storm chasing which, unfortunately, places entertainment ahead of science and personal safety. Let's hope that Irene veers out to sea and leaves the stuntmen safe, dry and disappointed.
