Weather Talk
Category: Local... MSM/Journalism/etc... Nature...
Posted Friday, September 12, 2008 at 08:37 AM [GMT-6]

We've now had five consecutive days of rain in Midland. Our backyard gauge has captured almost 3" during that period, and 5" for the month. Much as we need it, I think that's enough for now, thank you very much. I'm ready for some sunshine.

If for no other reason, we need a break in order to get caught up on yard work. I don't want to exaggerate the impact of the rainfall, but my backyard is beginning to scare me a little bit:

And don't even get me started about the alligators.

Actually, I don't have any room to complain. I understand that College Station could get as much as 15" of rain after Ike makes landfall in a few hours. A&M has shut down for the weekend, as has most of East Texas. And by all accounts, Galveston will be literally devastated by the hurricane, barring Divine intervention. So, my annoyance at a slightly disrupted routine due to a few inches of rainfall is whining to an embarrassing degree.

Speaking of Hurricane Ike, while the non-stop media coverage certainly seems justified given the size and heading of the storm, I do question why our local CBS affiliate sees the need to send a camera crew to the coast to provide on-the-spot reporting. I have great respect for the crew's meteorological and reporting expertise, but I guess I'm missing the value of their perspective on this event. I expect the national news outlets to report on it, but for a local TV crew to join the fray almost seems flippant given the predicted impending disaster. This seems to be another example of doing something just because you can, and not because you should. If I'm off base here, please feel free to enlighten me.