An unprecedented weather event happened in south central Kansas on April 8, 2015 and it had nothing to do with what was going on in the sky.
The intense, unrelenting hype about the recent chance of storms and accompanying severe weather would have made you think that we Kansans had never had such a chance before. One friend of mine went out to buy fresh batteries for her storm kit and could find none left in stock at several locations. Churches and schools cancelled events. At Beltone, I was booked solid for the day, but by 9AM most had cancelled because it was “too dangerous” for them to go out for an appointment. Social media was packed with severe weather information (much of which I shared) and the city and area was nearly in a panic. Every “tornado tank” in America was in the city. FEMA was issuing special advisories. TWC was doing live interviews with the fire chief. I can only imagine how stressful the day was on those that are truly frightened of storms or who have actually been through a tornado before.
So, what happened? Why was this time different than previous times? I have several theories. Here are a few of them. I doubt one single thing caused the irrationality, but put them all together and it is a recipe for mental and financial disaster.
Reason #1: Media reporting. Let me say up front, I love the media and have many friends still in the business…heck I am still in the business in several ways. What the average person at home doesn’t understand is how incredibly high the pressure has gotten to perform, especially in severe weather situations. Ratings are everything. In the “olden days,” they used to be kept by paper and pencil, sent in by families and compiled about two weeks after the ratings period ended. There were several ratings periods a year. Now, with new technology, ratings can be seen the next day and in some cases in real-time broken down into minute-by-minute segments. This kind of information causes the station owners to put a lot of pressure from the top down to perform so that more money can be charged for commercials. It is what keeps them in business. Profit margins have gotten smaller and smaller, so the difference between being #1 and #2 in any given event has been greatly magnified. The final result of this in severe weather situations is to build up as much expectation as possible in advance of the storm, to cover even the smallest storms in real-time, to be on the air the most, stay on the air the longest and after the event promote the fact that you were there and what a great job you did.
Reason #2: SPC’s new outlook system. Let me also say that I love the SPC and have many friends that work for the National Weather Service. This year, they introduced a 7 tier, 7 color scale for the impact of severe storms to replace the 3 tier, 3 color system. While I am all about “the more data the better,” it seems to have had an impact where the “bull’s eye” looks SO much more ominous than it used to. For example, a moderate risk used to be an orange area surrounded by yellow and green (much like the radar colors you see). Now, a moderate risk is surrounded by 4 colors which makes it look more intense. You may think I am crazy with this one, but I have no doubt it is contributing to the “over-hype” factor.
Reason #3: People have a very short memory. I wrote a chapter about this in my book, but it never ceases to amaze me that from year-to-year even I forget how a season feels and how I react to it. This time of year, it is hard to remember that by late May/early June, we will be having thunderstorms several times a week that are more severe than the storms were yesterday, and people will go about their business like nothing is wrong. The college I teach for sent out a memo yesterday afternoon saying they were flooded with questions about whether they were cancelling classes for the evening. The response was spot-on. Paraphrasing here, “We have NEVER closed school due to a forecast of thunderstorms or even actual thunderstorms before, so we don’t see a need to now. All of our facilities have safety officers and shelters for severe weather should a warning be issued.” And, quite honestly, that should have been all of our reactions this time. We are Kansans, we get literally thousands of thunderstorms a year. Some of them are severe. Some are more severe than others. Should we take it lightly when a warning is issued? Absolutely not. Should we be running around like chickens with their heads cut off screaming that the sky is falling (mixed metaphor), cancelling everything in our plans HOURS before the first storm has even developed. Absolutely not.
When it is time to panic, have a plan, execute it, then panic. When there is a 30% chance of spring-time thunderstorms with an “Enhanced Risk” (would have been “Slight Risk” a year ago) of severe weather, pay attention, go about your business and if a warning is issued, go to shelter. Otherwise, remember: we are Kansans, we are tough, we have been through this before and will go through it again too many times to count, don’t get caught up in the scare mongering of anyone (including me).
Now…get out and enjoy the beautiful spring weather, and if that includes the occasional thunderstorm, enjoy it and be safe!
Members Get More
Additional details are available for these membership levels:
BasicEnthusiast
Keep Up to Date - Enable Notifications
OK
No thanks
1 - Query:
SELECT option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'siteurl' LIMIT 1
Time: 0.955 ms
2 - Query:
SELECT * FROM wp_pmpro_membership_levels
Time: 0.157 ms
3 - Query:
SET time_zone = "+00:00"
Time: 0.423 ms
4 - Query:
SELECT t0.name AS name_1, t0.value AS value_2, t0.id AS id_3, t0.created_at AS created_at_4, t0.updated_at AS updated_at_5 FROM wp_mailpoet_settings t0
Time: 0.433 ms
5 - Query:
SHOW TABLES LIKE 'wp\\_ewwwio\\_images'
Time: 0.922 ms
6 - Query:
select option_name, option_value from wp_options where option_name like 'mcloud%'
Time: 1.844 ms
7 - Query:
SHOW TABLES LIKE 'wp_mcloud_pending_optimizations'
Time: 0.859 ms
8 - Query:
SHOW TABLES LIKE 'wp_mcloud_bg_optimizations'
Time: 0.741 ms
9 - Query:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = 'dbb845775ff53c4a11a5569812f8843b49'
AND table_name IN ('wp_toolset_associations', 'wp_toolset_connected_elements', 'wp_toolset_relationships', 'wp_toolset_type_sets')
Time: 0.757 ms
10 - Query:
SELECT count(w0_.id) AS sclr_0 FROM wp_mailpoet_subscribers w0_ WHERE w0_.deleted_at IS NULL AND w0_.status IN ('subscribed', 'unconfirmed', 'inactive')
Time: 0.400 ms
11 - Query:
SELECT a.action_id FROM wp_actionscheduler_actions a LEFT JOIN wp_actionscheduler_groups g ON g.group_id=a.group_id WHERE 1=1 AND g.slug='mailpoet-cron' AND a.hook='mailpoet/cron/daemon-trigger' AND a.args='[]' AND a.status IN ('in-progress', 'pending') LIMIT 0, 1
Time: 0.293 ms
12 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT t.trigger_key
FROM `wp_mailpoet_automations` AS a
JOIN `wp_mailpoet_automation_triggers` as t
WHERE a.status = 'active' AND a.id = t.automation_id
ORDER BY trigger_key DESC
Time: 0.211 ms
13 - Query:
SELECT id FROM wp_pmpro_membership_levels LIMIT 1
Time: 0.212 ms
14 - Query:
SELECT id FROM wp_pmpro_membership_levels WHERE allow_signups = 1 AND (initial_payment > 0 OR billing_amount > 0 OR trial_amount > 0) LIMIT 1
Time: 0.058 ms
15 - Query:
SELECT user_id FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_users WHERE initial_payment > 0 OR billing_amount > 0 OR trial_amount > 0 LIMIT 1
Time: 0.047 ms
16 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT meta_value FROM wp_postmeta
WHERE meta_key = '_view_loop_template'
AND meta_value != '0'
ORDER BY post_id
Time: 0.292 ms
17 - Query:
SELECT ID, post_name, post_parent, post_type
FROM wp_posts
WHERE post_name IN ('when-a-city-loses-its-ever-lovin-mind')
AND post_type IN ('page','attachment')
Time: 1.366 ms
18 - Query:
SELECT wp_posts.ID
FROM wp_posts
WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.post_name = 'when-a-city-loses-its-ever-lovin-mind' AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post'
ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC
Time: 1.023 ms
19 - Query:
SELECT autoload FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'pmpro_visits' LIMIT 1
Time: 1.096 ms
20 - Query:
SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `wp_options`
Time: 1.276 ms
21 - Query:
UPDATE `wp_options` SET `option_value` = 'a:9:{s:5:\"today\";i:940;s:8:\"thisdate\";s:10:\"2025-27-06\";s:4:\"week\";i:8204;s:8:\"thisweek\";s:2:\"26\";s:5:\"month\";i:31676;s:9:\"thismonth\";s:1:\"6\";s:3:\"ytd\";i:278018;s:8:\"thisyear\";s:4:\"2025\";s:7:\"alltime\";i:1495242;}' WHERE `option_name` = 'pmpro_visits'
Time: 0.685 ms
22 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta
ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id )
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt1
ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
WHERE 1=1
AND ( ( wp_postmeta.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_enabled'
AND wp_postmeta.meta_value = 'yes' ) )
AND post_title = 'when-a-city-loses-its-ever-lovin-mind/'
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
AND post_status = 'publish'
AND ( ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'only_not_logged_in' )
OR ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'both' ) )
Time: 1.254 ms
23 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
WHERE 1=1
AND post_title = 'when-a-city-loses-its-ever-lovin-mind/'
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
Time: 0.504 ms
24 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta
ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id )
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt1
ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
WHERE 1=1
AND ( ( wp_postmeta.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_enabled'
AND wp_postmeta.meta_value = 'yes' ) )
AND post_title = ''
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
AND post_status = 'publish'
AND ( ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'only_not_logged_in' )
OR ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'both' ) )
Time: 0.123 ms
25 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
WHERE 1=1
AND post_title = ''
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
Time: 0.093 ms
26 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta
ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id )
INNER JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt1
ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
WHERE 1=1
AND ( ( wp_postmeta.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_enabled'
AND wp_postmeta.meta_value = 'yes' ) )
AND post_title = 'when-a-city-loses-its-ever-lovin-mind'
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
AND post_status = 'publish'
AND ( ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'only_not_logged_in' )
OR ( mt1.meta_key = '_seopress_redirections_logged_status'
AND mt1.meta_value = 'both' ) )
Time: 0.422 ms
27 - Query:
SELECT ID
FROM wp_posts
WHERE 1=1
AND post_title = 'when-a-city-loses-its-ever-lovin-mind'
AND post_type = 'seopress_404'
Time: 0.418 ms
28 - Query:
SELECT p.ID FROM wp_posts AS p WHERE p.post_date < '2015-04-09 17:32:06' AND p.post_type = 'post' AND p.post_status = 'publish' ORDER BY p.post_date DESC LIMIT 1
Time: 1.283 ms
29 - Query:
SELECT p.ID FROM wp_posts AS p WHERE p.post_date > '2015-04-09 17:32:06' AND p.post_type = 'post' AND p.post_status = 'publish' ORDER BY p.post_date ASC LIMIT 1
Time: 1.062 ms
30 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT t.term_id
FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id
WHERE tt.taxonomy IN ('category', 'post_tag', 'wpmf_tag', 'event') AND tr.object_id IN (4841)
ORDER BY t.name ASC
Time: 0.417 ms
31 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT t.term_id
FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id
WHERE tt.taxonomy IN ('category') AND tr.object_id IN (4841)
ORDER BY tt.parent DESC
Time: 0.376 ms
32 - Query:
SELECT autoload FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'pmpro_views' LIMIT 1
Time: 1.037 ms
33 - Query:
UPDATE `wp_options` SET `option_value` = 'a:9:{s:5:\"today\";i:1032;s:8:\"thisdate\";s:10:\"2025-27-06\";s:4:\"week\";i:9179;s:8:\"thisweek\";s:2:\"26\";s:5:\"month\";i:36564;s:9:\"thismonth\";s:1:\"6\";s:3:\"ytd\";i:288288;s:8:\"thisyear\";s:4:\"2025\";s:7:\"alltime\";i:998331;}' WHERE `option_name` = 'pmpro_views'
Time: 0.499 ms
34 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT t.term_id
FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id
WHERE tt.taxonomy IN ('category') AND tr.object_id IN (4841)
ORDER BY t.name ASC
Time: 0.368 ms
35 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT t.term_id
FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON t.term_id = tt.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id
WHERE tt.taxonomy IN ('post_tag') AND tr.object_id IN (4841)
ORDER BY t.name ASC
Time: 0.164 ms
36 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(19) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '4841')
Time: 0.128 ms
37 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(19) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '4841')
Time: 0.615 ms
38 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(19) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '4841')
Time: 0.386 ms
39 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(19) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '4841')
Time: 0.284 ms
40 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT(mp.page_id)
FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp
LEFT JOIN wp_posts p ON mp.page_id = p.ID
WHERE p.post_type IN('page', 'post')
Time: 0.179 ms
41 - Query:
SELECT DISTINCT(tr.object_id)
FROM wp_term_relationships tr
LEFT JOIN wp_posts p ON tr.object_id = p.ID
WHERE tr.term_taxonomy_id IN(
SELECT category_id
FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories
)
AND p.post_type IN('page', 'post')
Time: 0.082 ms
42 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(20,153) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '128006')
Time: 0.258 ms
43 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(20,153) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '128033')
Time: 0.366 ms
44 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(23) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '127306')
Time: 0.404 ms
45 - Query:
(SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_categories mc LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mc.membership_id = m.id WHERE mc.category_id IN(23) AND m.id IS NOT NULL) UNION (SELECT m.id, m.name FROM wp_pmpro_memberships_pages mp LEFT JOIN wp_pmpro_membership_levels m ON mp.membership_id = m.id WHERE mp.page_id = '127215')
Time: 0.280 ms
46 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_forms` where `status` = 'published' and `id` = '19' limit 1
Time: 0.362 ms
47 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where `form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` = 'formSettings' limit 1
Time: 0.129 ms
48 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where `form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` = '_ff_selected_style' limit 1
Time: 0.204 ms
49 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where `form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` in ('_custom_form_css', '_custom_form_js')
Time: 0.268 ms
50 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where `form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` in ('_ff_form_styler_css', '_ff_selected_style', 'ffs_default')
Time: 0.483 ms
51 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where (`form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` = 'ffs_default') limit 1
Time: 0.374 ms
52 - Query:
select * from `wp_fluentform_form_meta` where (`form_id` = '19' and `meta_key` = '_ff_form_styles') limit 1
Time: 0.247 ms