I used to live on the coast in the far north west of Scotland. A notable feature of the climate there is the wind. Storm force winds and, less often, hurricane force winds, are regular winter occurrences (i.e. wind speeds are frequently in excess of 60 or 70mph and, less often, more than 80 to 90mph). Such winds can and do cause structural damage to property. Knowing this, I became very nervous when storms were forecast. In the end, I actually stopped listening to the weather forecast. This was because the weather reports on TV or radio hyped-up the storm forecasts to the extent that the anticipation caused me a great deal of anxiety. I found that it was preferable to just “take the weather as it came” because this reduced my anxiety considerably. (In fact, the weather was often less severe than predicted.) One way or the other, however, I could not escape these hyped-up forecasts.
Firstly, one of my colleagues at work took it upon herself to be town crier and foreteller of doom on the subject of storms and other nasty weather conditions. She could not keep it quiet. This “wind-up merchant” would come into the staffroom at intervals and lunchtimes and announce the news to all. By the end of the day, the entire place would be “up to high doh” speculating about the weather. The air of anxiety was palpable. It got so bad that at times I stopped using the staffroom in order to avoid this woman. I don’t know why she did what she did, except that I suppose she must have got a kick from winding us all up. (Had she known it, she was also winding herself up and thereby increasing her own levels of anxiety.) Secondly, for “health and safety” reasons, my employer was obliged to email us during work if a forecast predicted storms before the end of the working day. So, despite my best attempts, there really was no escape.
I now live in a place with less extreme weather conditions but that doesn’t stop the weather forecasters and news reporters going to town and creating “a storm in a tea cup” or, more recently, turning puddles into floods. And just to give credence to their exaggerations, they always manage to find a ‘witness’ who, like my former colleague, will also take great delight in hyping it up as they stand in front of the camera.
I still don’t listen to weather forecasts. There will come a time when I can rise above the emotionalism they generate. For that to happen I may have to grit my teeth and start listening to them again. Nonetheless, one does question the role the likes of the media plays in inducing the high levels of fear and anxiety current in our society. In other words, just what, exactly, is weather reporting REALLY about?