My sister, who lives the New Orleans area and was evacuated for hurricane Katrina some ten years ago, is constantly glued to the Weather Channel when there is so much as a mention of a tropical depression forming off the coast of Africa.  This is understandable, considering that she lost everything she owned during Katrina.  When a tropical depression becomes classified as a tropical storm and receives the next alternating-sex name, she goes into panic mode and puts on the Weather Channel to start the multiple-day tracking process.

I am immediately dispatched to the store for groceries, batteries, and water and instructed to fill her car up with gas and start searching the net for the best prices for a hotel located in some other state and opposite the anticipated landing of the storm.  All of this is based on the "expert" opinions of the Weather Channel resident meteorologists.

The problem is that the Weather Channel is a for-profit company that needs to generate income to support operations and turn a profit through increased viewership, much like most other TV channels.  Unfortunately, most of the other channels generate increased viewership and income through better sports, news, or entertainment, and not natural disasters.  Much like the climate change industry, the bigger the predicted disaster, the more viewers are attracted and larger profits are generated.  This has all led to recent predictions of some storms being much worse than they actuality turned out to be.  When this happens, a percentage of the population will not react appropriately to actual future weather events because the last disaster was over-reported.  

The Weather Channel constantly overdramatizes serious weather events.

As an example, up until Thursday, the Weather Channel had hurricane Florence hitting the Carolinas as a Category 4 hurricane.  It landed as a Category 1, quickly turning into a tropical storm and then a tropical depression.  There was loss of life, unfortunately, and a flooding condition you do not wish on anyone, but it was not the all-devastating Category 4 hurricane as dramatized and predicted by the Weather Channel systemically for increased viewership.

If you do not think the Weather Channel's reporting was overdramatized, all you need to do is view the viral YouTube video of a Weather Channel reporter bracing himself against the hurricane winds to keep from being blown to the ground while two people in the background are casually strolling by in their shorts.  They were obviously not as affected by the same life-threatening winds.

Also, tropical storm Gordon, which landed in Mississippi a week and a half ago, was "expected to land as a Category 3 hurricane" by the Weather Channel as closely as a day before actual landfall.  It did not.  With all the drama, evacuations, and warnings that come with a Category 3 hurricane warning, there will be a percentage of the population that will not react properly to the next warning because the last one did not materialize.  More will stay in place next time to ride out the storm.

Weather prediction is not an exact science, and most rational people know this.  Even with improving and evolving technology to better predict these storms and possibly save additional lives, we need to remove the "drama" for increased ratings from the forecasts and broadcasts.  A more sober, realistic forecast could increase the population's trust as to what is about to happen and have many more people react properly to a future event and possibly save additional lives.

Weather prediction is as much a public service as it is a for-profit business, and entities like the Weather Channel need to start embracing their responsibility to not to cry wolf over weather events.