Because I walk my dog several times a day for 45-60 minutes and I swim every day (state law mandates that indoor pools kick everyone out if it thunders), I check the weather forecast several times throughout the day. My favorite site is Accuweather because it provides hourly forecasts and radar maps that have been reasonably reliable.
Back in the day, pre-Internet, I would get weather forecasts from TV news shows and the newspaper. These were less accurate, but generally good enough to predict major temperature changes, rain and snow.
A big change I have noticed with weather reporting in recent years are RED Alerts (aka Warnings, aka Advisories). There seem to be red alerts all the time now.
I get red alerts for:
- Wind
- Freeze
- Heat
- Cold
- Rain
- Snow/Ice
- Storms
- Lightning
- Fire
- Flash Flood
The reality is that Raleigh has fairly predictable, mild weather year-round. We occasionally get some heavier storms and rain. Very rarely, do we have a hurricane.
All of the rest of the warnings note possible threats, I guess. But my experience is that 95% it’s no big deal. We get dry conditions, rain, wind gusts, cold and hot.
I lived with all of these weather conditions for my entire life without needing to be warned.
When everything is a red alert then nothing is a red alert.
These constant alerts are just like:
- HomeLand Security Threat Level which is always at the “heightened threat level”
- Suffocation warnings printed on all plastic bags
- Fire Hazard warnings on all mattresses
- Covid dashboard and warnings, now 3 years on
They are so ubiquitous, that I (and everyone else, I assume) ignores them.
After all, I can’t afford to be agitated and concerned about every bad thing that might potentially occur. I’d have no room in my head to think about anything else if I did.
So, when I have concerns, I dig a little deeper to see the definitions behind the warnings, the probabilities of an event happenings and the likelihood it will happen to me. Most of the time, none of it matters.