News Writers: Stop Trying To Scare People With Made-Up Storm Language
Superstorm? Robert Simmon with data courtesy of the NASA/NOAA GOES Project Science teamHurricane Sandy wasn't a "superstorm." Not because it wasn't a "super" "storm," but because "superstorm" is an imaginary scare-term that exists exclusively for shock value. Superstorm [suːpər ˈstɔrm] Here is a short list of major news organizations referring to Sandy as a "superstorm": The L.A. Times, CBS News, Time, The Guardian, Business Insider, the Toronto Star, and the Wall Street Journal. Here's what Professor Alan Blumberg, professor of ocean engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology and director of its Center for Maritime Systems, says a "superstorm" is: "It's a media invention. There's no real meteorological term called 'superstorm.'" The storm we know as Sandy has gone by several different classifications. Storm classifications are fluid, just as the storms are: what is a Category 3 hurricane in one part of the world might be nothing but a cyclone by...