Spann: Don't trust national news organizations to accurately report on weather

We are heading into the peak of hurricane season, which means two things:

No. 1: Everyone anywhere near the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico is more likely to be paying attention to what’s going on in the tropics; and

No. 2: It’s going to once again become very apparent that the number of media outlets producing quality weather reporting is incredible low.

Becoming increasingly frustrated with No. 2, Alabama’s most trusted meteorologist has taken to social media to point out how numerous major news organizations have botched their weather coverage over the last several days.

“I think we can safely cross off national news organizations as a source of reliable weather information,” said an exasperated James Spann.

As evidence, Mr. Spann posted a link to a Washington Post story about news organizations “embarrassing themselves with terrible tropical weather reporting.”

“Just when circumstances call for conveying a nuanced and carefully crafted message, some media organizations are making this impossible by pushing out scary and totally false information to their millions of followers,” wrote the Post’s Jason Samenow.

The Daily Mail takes home the prize for “most appalling tropical weather reporting,” Mr. Samenow began. The popular UK-based media outlet tweeted that “Hurricane Gaston strengthens in Florida Straights causing warnings,” while in reality the hurricane is “nowhere near the Florida Straits, and no threat to any land. And there are no warnings associated with this storm.”

USA Today got in on the act, too, declaring Florida is “bracing for a double whammy: Hurricane watch and Zika outbreak.” In reality there is no hurricane watch, prompting the company’s weather editor to admit they had made “a boo-boo.” Undeterred, USA Today’s social media team went a step further, tweeting about “two tropical depressions threatening the East and Gulf Coasts,” which was fine, but chose to add an image of a giant, non-existent hurricane bearing down on the Carolinas, which was deceptive, at best. They later issued a correction, saying they had accidentally used the “wrong satellite image.”

NBC Nightly News also incorrectly tweeted that there is a “Hurricane churning in the Atlantic” that “threatens to dump heavy rain on Florida amid Zika fears.” That was incorrect, too, and they later corrected the tweet.

The full Washington Post undressing of the national media’s weather reporting can be read here.

“We have national news organizations spreading horribly false information,” Alabama’s James Spann wrote in a Facebook post. “Please pick and choose your source of weather information carefully.”

Mr. Spann’s Alabama Weather Blog looks like a good place to start.