Wichita’s Tornado Coverage

You want reality television? Hello! A little while ago Dave asked non-essential station personnel to move to their shelter.

I’ve got KSN’s streaming weather coverage on the latop. Dave Freeman is on with Mark Bogner. They are in Downtown Wichita directly in the path of a large tornado.

You want reality television? Hello! A little while ago Dave asked non-essential station personnel to move to their shelter.

They’ve got the NWS NEXRAD Doppler radar and are staying totally with base reflectivity. No Doppler products on-air. Sometimes management demands showing the bells and whistles. I don’t miss it. The position of the tornadoes within these cells is pretty evident on the radar.

Some stations go too far showing off technology. They make themselves less effective in critical situations. If a piece of gear requires explanation don’t use it when time is critical!

It’s tough for me to understand their market. I can’t sight read the close-up maps of tiny rural Kansas towns. I guess they’re covering the storms thoroughly. A local could make a better judgement.

We TV mets read the radar and report what that means in real time, but it will be a while before actual damage reports gravitate out to the media. There is a fog of war effect that slows the flow of information.