Is the weather really becoming more dangerous?
Posted January 8, 2014 9:52 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – With polar vortexes swirling above us, frost quakes rumbling below, and superstorms on the horizon… is the weather really becoming more dramatic and dangerous?
We seem to get more dire-sounding meteorological terms every year but the experts reassure it’s more about punchy headlines than worsening weather.
Canadians are avid weather-watchers — combine that with an increasing number of amateur weather weenies taking to social media and a hungry, headline-loving news cycle and some exotic meteorological terms that were once only for insiders have become popularized in recent years. Frankenstorm anyone?
“I think if we are honest with ourselves, there’s a little ‘storm chaser’ in all of us,” says Meteorologist Russ Lacate in the News1130 Weather centre.
“Of course back in the day it was really only those dedicated weather observers working in remote locations who’d get that firsthand experience of being in the eye of the storm. But now the video is piped into your living room, the sounds are on your car radio and the images are updated on your smartphone every 60 seconds. The constant barrage of information kind of lends itself to exaggeration.”
Russ says there have been a half dozen “storms of the century” in the past 10 years alone.
“Admittedly we meteorologists are feeling somewhat threatened by this encroachment upon what used to be ‘insider only’ turf because you hear these terms everywhere now. Clearly the polar vortex has spun out of control, snowmageddon is buried and the Pineapple Express has left the station,” he laughs.
As media outlets up the ante by latching onto increasingly dangerous sounding weather terms, Russ will be trying to stay ahead of the curve.
“I’ll be trotting out some new material. You probably haven’t heard much about the subtropical jet yet, nor the Pacific occlusion. Of course my personal favourite is the back door front.”
Sounds exciting.
