Why Do Reporters Stand Outdoors In Dangerous Hurricane Conditions?

The Weather Channel's Mike Bettes reports live
Wednesday evening in Tampa, Florida amid dangerous
winds and drenching rains. 

Wednesday night, CNN's Anderson Cooper got bopped in the face by a flying piece of debris during a live outdoor report on Hurricane Milton.

Also, a large tree fell on vehicles containing Fox Weather reporter Robert Ray and his crew just after a live shot of the storm 

NBC's Tom Llamas was doing a live shot in Sarasota moments after the calm eye of Hurricane Milton passed and the wind roared up again suddenly. He and his crew were forced to flee during the shot as a transformer exploded behind him. 

Cooper, Llamas, Ray and his crew were not hurt. 

Plus, there were others. Like Mike Bettes, who could barely stand on his feet in horrendous gusts and blinding rain in Tampa as debris scooted by behind him. Matthew Cappucci of My Radar and the Washington Post filmed from inside a rocking vehicle in downtown Sarasota, Florida as debris sailed past him and storm surge water began to fill the streets. 

And there's Jim Cantore, who's always out in the thick of every storm he can get his hands on. (When I saw Cantore last night, he was relatively tame, as he took viewers into a parking garage that was being invaded by a storm surge). 

So, the age old question comes back: Why do reporters go out in hurricanes in areas that have been evacuated, that emergency managers have deemed unsafe? After all, we know hurricanes are both windy and rainy, and have dangerous storm surges, right? So do they really have to stand out there in the weather?

Poynter, a non-profit journalism school and research center does have good answers to this question.  

"There is some value to the viewer to be able to see the intensity of the storm," Al Tomkins of Poynter said. "It can serve as a proxy for viewers who might have evacuated and want an eyewitness account of what they left behind. If you were locked in a shelter, you would be anxious to know what was happening outside."

Tomkins also raised this point: "If the world can see what is happening, then help is more likely to follow."

He added: "The communities that are suffering most desperately need journalists to document their needs. Help follows coverage. And I can say for sure that when Jim Cantore is on the air documenting the devastation in your town, emergency crews and federal aid will get there faster than if you suffer and nobody notices."

If that's true, it's probably worth it for reporters to barely be able to stand up while doing their live shot stand ups during the worst hours of a hurricane. 

 You might have noticed that increasingly, the meteorologists and reporters who stand outside and do reports during hurricanes have upped their game with safety equipment. Many of them now wear helmets and goggles to protect themselves. (Anderson Cooper was an unfortunate exception Wednesday evening. I'm glad he's OK).

Poynter's Tom Jones wrote in an op-ed that it would probably be a good idea to take viewers "behind the curtain" and show them that they only stand outside briefly for live shots, then take cover. And their live shots are usually in semi-protected areas. 

For instance, Jones pointed to CNN's Jason Carroll during power Hurricane Ida in Louisiana in 2021. He showed how the cameraman was sheltered next to a large, sturdy building during the live shot and how he also took shelter between shots. 

Reporters who do live shots in hurricanes do need to be careful to actually report and not grandstand. Most of the people doing live shots during Hurricane Milton last night were meteorologists, who could provide important contexts and forecasts and explanations of why viewers were seeing what they were seeing on their screens.

Then there's the storm chasers. Though the can be helpful, they're also after revenue on social media. So they take too many risks, in my opinion.  For some reason, some of them are attracted to mobile home parks during hurricanes, which feature huge, lethal chunks of sharp sheet metal blowing around. 

 Interestingly, Poynter's headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, which got nailed by Hurricane Milton. They report all of their staff is safe and their buildings received just minor damage. That perspective gave them a good view of how reporters did covering Hurricane Milton.

Overall, national journalists did a solid job, but it's local reporters that really shined. They know their surroundings probably better than anybody, and they were able to focus on specific neighborhoods and their unique experiences with Hurricane Milton. 

In an age when all the crazies keep yelling out supposed fake news, we do have take a moment to honor real journalists who bring us the information we need during severe weather like hurricanes. 

Sure, we can laugh a little at Jim Cantore struggling to stay on his feet in a hurricane or rejoicing on camera at thunder snow. 

But while these reporters struggle in the weather, they do manage to provide a valuable service.  

It'a Beautiful Peak Spring in Vermont, And Kinda Into Summer Now

Flowers blooming in my St. Albans, Vermont garden
this morning. It's peak spring! 

It is such a pleasure to be outdoors this time of year. 

The new leaves on the trees are now unfolding so fast you can almost watch them expand if you just stare at them  Fragrances of lilac and apple blossoms and the organic aromas of new growth make everything outdoors (except for me) smell so wonderful.  

The warm light of peak spring starts earlier than most of us get up in the morning and lasts well into the evening. 

Happy birdsong fills the air with eggs and hatchlings in the nests built in the past month or so in the shed rafters, atop outdoor lights and the crooks and crannies of the house deck supports. 

Take the dogs outside, and the roll around blissfully in the cool, sweet green grass.

Only the clouds of black flies that descend as soon as the breeze slackens takes away from this heavenly panorama.

I've always felt lucky to live in Vermont, where we're rewarded with such a glorious time of year after a long winter. I feel doubly blessed this year. The Covid pandemic has so far spared my family, my husband, myself. 

I've never taken springtime in Vermont for granted. This year, that's especially true. 

At this time last year, as the terrible pandemic took hold and grew, I wondered it that would be the last time I would be able to enjoy the season. Like everyone, I was at risk of losing the physical ability to fully enjoy the outdoors. Or lose my sense of smell, which is a real tragedy for anyone this time of year. 

The risk isn't over of course. But I'm still healthy, and I've had my Covid shots. So have my husband, siblings, mother, in-laws.  This all makes this sweet, colorful and busy season all the better. 

Even though it's the height of spring, I also have a broad definition of what constitutes summer, and to my mind we've arrived at that season. 

Oh, sure, we'll still have chilly days. There could still be a late frost. It's not unheard of to snow in Vermont this late in the season, though that's quite rare. 

Hosta leaves  unfurling in my St. Albans, Vermont
gardens this morning

But we've entered our first sustained period of what can easily pass for summertime weather. It got up to 78 degrees in Burlington Saturday, making it the warmest day so far this year. It could reach into the 80s later this week. 

We're lacking the rain we need, but we at least see attempts at the summertime ritual of afternoon and evening showers and thundershowers popping up in the afternoons and evenings. 

The showers will be few and far between and generally light for the next few day, but they'll be there. 

I see a familiar summertime pattern in the meteorological charts, too.  A big northward bulge in the jet stream is developing in the eastern United States this coming week. 

It will bring bonafide heat to parts of the East, with many places hitting 90, with of course those aforementioned 80s in Vermont by midweek. 

Another familiar summertime pattern are what a lot of us weather geeks call "ridge runner" disturbances. Those are little weather systems that ride the northern periphery of those northward bulges, or ridges in the atmosphere. 

As is often the case in the summer, we might well be in the path of those ridge runners later this week. If that's the case, those ridge runners could set off a few more of those scattered afternoon and evening showers and storms by late week. 

Please do yourself a favor and go outside and enjoy nature at its full glory. It'll clear your mind, bring you a measure of piece, improve your mood. Peak spring in Vermont is some of the best psychiatric medicine available in the world. And it's free!