Blake Mathews

Tropical Storm #Isaias's pressure is down to 994 mb - the lowest for an Atlantic named storm so far this year. 994 mb is not a particularly low pressure... it highlights just how quiet the Atlantic season has been to date!

I’ll be candid: Some of the online forecasts I saw—not from other TV stations in town—were unnecessarily alarmist. My forecast consistently called for 2–4 inches of rain, with isolated higher amounts. You can look back through my feed and verify that. In more than two decades of forecasting weather in North Texas, I’ve never seen this much panic and overreaction surrounding a forecast of 2–4 inches of rain, an amount we see fairly often. Heavy rain deserves attention, and localized flooding can be serious. But the messaging should reflect the actual risk. I believe some online weather sources helped fuel that anxiety. This kind of fearmongering seems to grow every year, and the consequences go beyond one forecast. Repeatedly overstating threats erodes public trust. Eventually, people may tune out warnings altogether—including the ones they urgently need to hear. That’s the “boy who cried wolf” scenario, and it’s dangerous. Our responsibility is to help people understand the risk and prepare, without creating unnecessary fear.