Cry Wolf and Catch 22

Today we're dealing with the wind which has nicely decided to follow up the big storm that parts of Saskatchewan had to endure yesterday. A storm which tornado chasers and storm watchers were predicting as early as last Wednesday and Thursday could bring us severe systems.

There was much hype leading up to these last couple of days about tornados and cyclones and how we better start getting the basement ready for some possible "big ones". Then the system petered out and didn't produce what everyone thought should live up to the hype.

I too was one of those people who last week and into the weekend was a little peeved with hype machine. But as Monday and Tuesday rolled around and the real possibility of something big started shaping up on the radar, I'm not ashamed to admit I took food and water to the basement and got ready.  As someone who was watching the system tracking eastward from Moose Jaw, and as someone who lives on the outskirts of the city on the far edge of the Cathedral area, I was worried. Let's face it, you've likely seen what did tear through a field southwest of Moose Jaw.

I also watched all those people who on social media proclaimed their disappointment with the storm falling short of its hype status. True. But here's the thing: never have we been so well informed, and so quickly informed about a storm than nowadays with social media. And the technology nowadays being used by weather watchers is so bang on that last night they were predicting in units of minutes, as to the arrival of when a storm would hit a location. They were pretty much bang on with the ETA of what we got hit with in Regina.

Sure, the hype might have cried wolf, but had a tornado hit hard in a town or city, and we didn't hear anything about it's path or destination, we would all be crying and pointing fingers at whoever about being un-informed! Catch 22. Our parents and grandparents never had this technology we have to be informed like we can be in 2012. I personally would rather be over-informed than under.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go get my food from the basement and return it to the cupboards.

Tia