SPC Severe Weather Categories VS WSBTV

[gaikkeb]

I've had these questions for a while and I wonder if others have had them as well. I love weather and so I make sure I'm as educated about all types of weather as I can be but when the general public needs to be informed things should be uniform to protect life and integrity. Why would WSBTV and their meteorologists use different colors for the different types of severe weather categories than of the SPC? I have checked Fox 5 and 11alive and they are using the SPC colors.

Example: Today most of Northern GA is under a marginal risk for severe storms and the SPC uses that dark green color on their maps. WSBTV has chosen to use yellow for a marginal risk. Why would they do this? I thought the new severe weather categories were created to make it easier for all of the weather world to be on the same page when it came to threats.

My concern:
People already don't pay attention to the weather like they should and if there is information being shown one way and then a different way, wouldn't that make people even less concerned with the weather? It would confuse them on which one to follow, especially knowing most people rely on tv meteorologists for their weather information.

If we are all trying to make the public more aware about weather and their surroundings wouldn't we want the tv meteorologists to use the same information as the SPC?

Any thoughts on this would be great, I needed to ask those questions and see what others think. Thanks all!

 

[Kim30]

Personally, I think a numbering system would be better.

 

[Meteorologist Bobby Best]

In my humble opinion, we (SPC, NWS, media) ALL should be using the same basic graphic colors and formats!!! The SPC uses different formats than local NWS forecast offices, and the media, well they're all over the board, the worst of which, in my opinion, is The Weather Channel with their "Tor-Con Values"!!!! Dr Ted, in my opinion, would not have approved of what his student done, when he "invented" that system!!!

We all need to be using the same colors, graphics packages, and such.... Sure, allow for us in media to place our station's logo in a corner of the screen, or at the top some where, but we should all be on the same appearance page!!! We're all confusing the heck out of the un-educated people in the general public, in my humble opinion, with all of these different graphics packages and terms like; "Tor-Con Values" and/or "First Alert Weather Days".....

A great many of the people that I work with in the media could stand a number of hours, taking some of the continuing education courses that I've taken and that are offered for free, by The Department of Homeland Security and then actually LISTEN to the social and engineering scientist that are giving us GOOD information, but that far to many of us aren't taking their suggestions on and/or with!!!

That's my two cents worth on this subject! Rest assured though, WSB-TV is NOT the only media outlet in the country that's doing what they are!!!