The weatherperson can make you achieve paranoia status. When they hammer you for three days with an increasing level of intensity in their voice that “severe, violent storms, with cow-sized hail” will hit the area in which you live, they get your attention.
Typically, I take the weather report with a softball-sized piece of salt. “Mmmmmm, okay, sure, I’ll believe it when I see it.”
The TV weatherperson becomes hard to ignore though when they batter you relentlessly, as recently occurred for our area. The predictions with maps showed every color on the planet, huge masses of storms, lightning bolds etched across the screen. The announcer made me think of my car.
Over 10 years ago, we lived in Texas, and the place where I worked got hit by chunks of hail that destroyed windows of over half the cars in the parking lot. Insurance people and the car repair business were busy for months.
The psychological effect on the employees was what you’d expect. When a prediction of hail occurred, they asked their boss if they could go home for the day. This happened with a degree of consistency during the spring thunderstorm season. You found out who really didn’t want to be in the office that day. Or, you found out who had become paranoid about hail.
It was understandable. At some point, when an “expert” keeps telling you something, it seeps into your skin and consciousness. It becomes difficult to ignore.
During most of the year, I leave my car in the driveway because it’s easier to get in and out. Our garage is small and I have to angle the wheels into the corner to fit with my wife’s car in the space. Opening the door, you have to be careful. I do the lazy/easy thing and just leave it outside. Who cares if it gets rained on?
When heavy, large hail is predicted though, you take notice. You start to consider whether it makes sense to bring the car into the garage for the night.
Recently we got one of those incessant weather reports, expecting raging storms, with the big red exclamation point flashing on the screen. I gave in, sighing, heading outside, pulling my car into the garage. I think I said something to my wife about the predictions making me paranoid.
Amazingly, for once they were right. There was no hail, but we got almost 3 inches of pounding rain in less than two hours. I’d made a good decision. Branches littered our driveway and lawn. One easily could have tattooed the roof of my car.
The problem is that most of the time when you hear these reports, nothing happens. You wait, and the clouds disperse, heading south or north, and you’re left doubting any further predictions. Someway, we all need a barometer to rank the weatherperson’s barometer. When will their predictions come true?
We have to gather all the info we can and make our best-informed decision, weighing the combination of their expertise and the data presented. And, sometimes you have to let paranoia status take over and put that car away.
Typically, I take the weather report with a softball-sized piece of salt. “Mmmmmm, okay, sure, I’ll believe it when I see it.”
The TV weatherperson becomes hard to ignore though when they batter you relentlessly, as recently occurred for our area. The predictions with maps showed every color on the planet, huge masses of storms, lightning bolds etched across the screen. The announcer made me think of my car.
Over 10 years ago, we lived in Texas, and the place where I worked got hit by chunks of hail that destroyed windows of over half the cars in the parking lot. Insurance people and the car repair business were busy for months.
The psychological effect on the employees was what you’d expect. When a prediction of hail occurred, they asked their boss if they could go home for the day. This happened with a degree of consistency during the spring thunderstorm season. You found out who really didn’t want to be in the office that day. Or, you found out who had become paranoid about hail.
It was understandable. At some point, when an “expert” keeps telling you something, it seeps into your skin and consciousness. It becomes difficult to ignore.
During most of the year, I leave my car in the driveway because it’s easier to get in and out. Our garage is small and I have to angle the wheels into the corner to fit with my wife’s car in the space. Opening the door, you have to be careful. I do the lazy/easy thing and just leave it outside. Who cares if it gets rained on?
When heavy, large hail is predicted though, you take notice. You start to consider whether it makes sense to bring the car into the garage for the night.
Recently we got one of those incessant weather reports, expecting raging storms, with the big red exclamation point flashing on the screen. I gave in, sighing, heading outside, pulling my car into the garage. I think I said something to my wife about the predictions making me paranoid.
Amazingly, for once they were right. There was no hail, but we got almost 3 inches of pounding rain in less than two hours. I’d made a good decision. Branches littered our driveway and lawn. One easily could have tattooed the roof of my car.
The problem is that most of the time when you hear these reports, nothing happens. You wait, and the clouds disperse, heading south or north, and you’re left doubting any further predictions. Someway, we all need a barometer to rank the weatherperson’s barometer. When will their predictions come true?
We have to gather all the info we can and make our best-informed decision, weighing the combination of their expertise and the data presented. And, sometimes you have to let paranoia status take over and put that car away.