Hurricane Ernesto - now forecast to hit Florida peninsula

[Craptacular]

Any chance of getting this stickied? I *think* this map should automatically refresh, but if not, I'll try to change it regularly. I'm not trying to scare people , but figured this could be a good way to keep our FOFC members informed ... or I suppose they could always go to the National hurricane Center at:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov



We've woken up to a big change in Ernesto. It's now a hurricane, and the forecast track has shifted to the Florida peninsula. Almost every reputable model has come into a pretty tight cone. As we know, there is still plenty of time for changes to the forecast track and intensity (what will Cuba do to it?), but people in Florida definitely need to start paying serious attention.

[JPhillips]

Well hell there goes my investment in Louisiana coffin futures.

[Lorena]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Well hell there goes my investment in Louisiana coffin futures.

Wow, that's an idiotic, heartless thing to say.

[JPhillips]

Lighten up Dodgerchick.

My comment was a parody of the hyping the news shows have been giving to Ernesto. Just last night I saw a breathless report on how the levies wouldn't hold and the temorary housing would all be destroyed and the possibility of mass deaths was high. That story, I kid you not, was followed by a guy from the Hurricane Center saying Ernesto had tracked a bit north and now was unlikely to hit the western Gulf coast.

We'll go through round after round of media hyped death and destruction watch every time a storm is predicted to enter the Gulf this year and that's what led to my comment.

[sterlingice]

Yeah, I love how every news station is hyping up every tropical depression they can find.

It's like movies and tv shows- when one genre comes out with a particularly good movie/show, other studios and stations copy it. They are completely not understanding that it's not because it's a crime drama or superhero movie or family comedy that the particular genre is "making a comeback" or "really popular". It's because that one crime drama or superhero movie or family comedy is really well done that people like it.

To bring this back to the hurricane, the news stations aren't going to recreate the news hype generated by Katrina because that really is a once in a generation type event. Even if there was a hurricane that strong or stronger out in the gulf, unless it hits New Orleans with its unique geography, the devistation won't be as bad, the scope not so grand.

But damned if news stations are not going to try, missing the boat once again.

SI