According
to the Austin Police Department, the brief bout of winter weather that gripped the
city in the first few days of February produced more than 600 automobile
collisions. Almost 400 of these fender-benders occurred between around 4am and
noon on Thursday, February 1, when a thin coating of ice on area roadways threw
Austin drivers for a very literal loop. And those 600 were only the ones that
were properly reported to the authorities. Insurance officials estimate these
weather-related collisions add up to about a million dollars in property
losses. Quite a bill for a two-day holiday.
But if you think Central Texas drivers got freaked out by the sudden cold
spell, they didn’t overreact half as badly as our friends in the news rooms of
the local television stations. The sheer amount of hour-to-hour coverage made
this storm 1996’s top story, a dubious title it may well hold throughout the
next 11 months. And why not? Foul weather reporting pretty much epitomizes
local news in the Nineties — it doesn’t take a whole lot of in-depth research
and it doesn’t cost too much to produce. Just step outside, shoot some video,
and narrate the obvious. Really, what could be easier?
When things started getting bad on Thursday morning, one of the first to
follow this formula for success was Channel 7, quickly interrupting normal
programming for extended weather-related coverage. While the KTBC news team
succumbed to the tired stalled-traffic-on-I-35 live shot, it livened things up
by interviewing drivers stuck in their cars in a rush-hour commute that had
devolved to a multi-hour ordeal. Reporter Mike Rosen chided a man who had spent
nearly three hours getting from Braker Lane to downtown, informing him that his
news crew had made the same trek in a third of the time by sticking to the
access road. “Gee, I wish I’d thought of that,” the commuter replied sourly.
Such good-natured shenanigans continued a little later in the day when Channel
7 broadcasted a network report on the best way to build a snow cave or what to
do in case you found yourself buried by an avalanche. Well, yes, the weather
was pretty nasty that day. But even in the hills of Westlake, it is doubtful
the precipitation was ever more than an inch in thickness. Barring a quick
delivery from Ready Ice, you would probably need to save the snow-cave survival
strategy for another occasion.
Speaking of deliveries, KXAN was one of the first to realize the cold spell’s
economic implications, finding a pizza shop that was still making house calls.
Shortly thereafter, they talked with a representative of Lamme’s Candies, who
explained that the ice had halted production of the company’s vaunted
chocolate-covered strawberries, thus threatening their lucrative
Valentine’s Day business. Other merchants were less pessimistic. TV’s barrage
of storm-related coverage helped create a huge run on food and home supplies at
local grocery stores, as people stocked their cabinets for the long days of
isolation they were warned would follow. Whatever.
Other portions of KXAN’s extended coverage focused on the increased activity
that the rash of traffic accidents had caused at local emergency rooms.
According to several live reports from Jeannette Hayes, Brackenridge was
nearing capacity as more and more people injured in these collisions began
seeking medical attention. Let us now point out that despite the very obvious
temptation, the Channel 36 news team never once succumbed to the rather
obvious promotional tie-in between this busy hospital and Thursday night’s
feature NBC drama ER. Bad weather brings out the best in TV people,
too.
Also give Channel 36 credit for quickly crafting an imposing red graphic
reading “Ice Storm of 1996” just in case viewers forgot the overall historical
significance of what they were watching. Not to be outdone, KVUE came up with
its own nifty artwork to tag ongoing video footage of the chilly conditions, a
blue thermometer bearing the more generically worded label “Cold Blast.” But
Channel 24’s creativity wasn’t limited to this one item. Additionally, the
station produced some wonderfully computer-enhanced animation illustrating what
tragedies might occur if ice crystals formed in your gas tank.
Why the concern about freezing gas tanks? Mainly because KVUE was the most
adventurous in its forecast of how cold temperatures would become over the next
few days. During the station’s extended February 1 coverage of the storm,
Curtis Nichols said temperatures would bottom out at 12 degrees fahrenheit on
Monday, against a high of 38 for the day. The actual readings were a much more
livable 21 and 53. We don’t fault Nichols and his ilk for trying to give us the
long-range picture. But, why not be a little more honest and admit that the
five-day outlook is a total crapshoot, at best?
Of course, the worse offender of this crime is Channel 42, with its
pie-in-the-sky seven-day predictions. Do they use a crystal ball for that one,
or what? K-EYE did have the most even-handed weather-related broadcasting,
interrupting their normal broadcasting schedule only as frequently as was
warranted by the thin glaze of ice, but that doesn’t mean the station didn’t
have its moments. At one point, reporter Rosinda Rijos gave viewers the tip
that for best traction they should “walk in the grass and wear tennis shoes.”
The people who put together this kind of stuff really have a pretty low
estimation of our intelligence, don’t they?
Maybe we shouldn’t be so critical. All four network affiliates provided
engaging footage of the human drama brought on by the freezing temperatures.
Even for viewers skeptical of the severity of this so-called winter onslaught,
television’s crisis-mode climate coverage was 10 times more engaging than the
most dysfunctional mother-seduces-daughter’s-boyfriend talk show guest whose
appearance the bad weather had preempted. This all-day storm analysis was
amazingly entertaining. And, these days, local TV news rarely aspires to much
loftier standards.
Less than an inch of ice? A scant 20 minutes worth of sleet and snow? While
the early February media blizzard far surpassed Mother Nature’s version of the
same, hundreds of local drivers might argue that Austin’s electronic media was
wholly inadequate in warning them of the quickly deteriorating road conditions.
With the ridiculously slow response time of the state highway department in
dealing with this kind of situation, the total number of automobile collisions
might have doubled had conditions been any worse. Or tripled. Or even
quadrupled.
And yet, it might be hard to believe given the complete onslaught of
wall-to-wall media attention generated by early February’s isolated snow
flurries, but the weather could have been a heck of a lot worse. Consider
Oregon right now.
Oh, to be in Portland… such is the stuff of dreams for a T.V. weather seer.
In our fair city, television news rooms will have to wait a long time for
another shining day in the muck. n
This article appears in February 16 • 1996 and February 16 • 1996 (Cover).