Having seen tornado coverage in Alabama over the years, these Boston Mets have no clue what they are talking about. News anchors are putting up photos and video clips being sent in from viewers and asking the mets if this is a tornado, funnel cloud, etc. You get the deer in the headlights look from them as they stutter and stammer as they try to fill up the airtime with drama... "well it sure looks like one but I can't be sure."
I’ve spent most of my life in Tornado Alley and Dixie Alley; just happen to be in New England on business today, and some of the coverage is amateurish, at least by the standards of Oklahoma City or Birmingham. On WHDH-TV (the NBC affiliate), the anchor just told a reporter to be careful, believing he was near a tornado. Then, she was corrected, and told the twister was outside another community, well away from the Channel 7 crew.
And one of the station’s “mets” just said these supercells “blew up out of nowhere.” Huh? There’s been a tornado watch out for several hours, so this is hardly a surprise.
To be fair, the Boston stations don’t get much practice at this type of coverage—and it shows. Maybe they can work an exchange program with a station in OKC or Birmingham.
Some of the local stations are doing a better job. NECN (the regional cable outfit) is providing solid coverage, as is the ABC station, WCVB. Can’t get WBZ on cable here in Maine, so I can’t offer any opinion on their effort.
Still, there isn’t a Gary England, James Spann or Greg Fishel in the bunch.
Matt Noyes, the NECN guy is the best I’ve heard anywhere in the country. He’s giving very detailed, technical, information and clear instructions.
One guy on NECN is obsessed with Springfield and duplicate reports.