In his opinion piece in The duty on weather risk communication “Weather bombs, risk communication or sensationalism? », Sophie Seguin-Lamarche misses her target by accusing the meteorologists of abusing alarmist terms in their bulletins. With all due respect to the crisis communications strategist, the terms “weather bomb”, “polar vortex” or “atmospheric river” are entirely appropriate scientific terms that have been part of the weather lexicon for more than 50 years. If we talk more and more about these rare phenomena, it is not to scare, but because they are increasing.
In the 1980s, meteorologists were blamed for using complicated and confusing terms like “high pressure” or “snow shower”. However, these terms, which were new at the time, are now very well understood by the population. You can not stop progress.
Before claiming that the weather community is confusing by using alarmist terms, it is important to consider that weather warning programs, both here and in the United States, perform very poorly. The effectiveness of weather warnings is estimated to be less than 10%. In other words, out of 10 people warned of an alert for their region, only one person will take action or change their behavior for their protection. People don’t listen to weather alerts anymore. The wolf has caused too much screaming for nothing.
Risk communication
Risk communication is still a very young field of knowledge. How to effectively warn a population that a danger is likely to fall on it in the next few minutes? Climatologists have the same problem, but on a global scale. The only proven means since the beginning of mankind is fear. As John Houghton, ex-president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, so aptly put it. “If we don’t announce disasters, no one will listen. »
Mme Seguin-Lamarche seems surprised that the weather is the most covered subject in the Quebec media portrait, well ahead of education, seniors and poverty. The climate here is the most turbulent in the world. Quebec knows all the violent phenomena of the dictionary. Blizzards, tornadoes, heat waves, squalls, hurricanes, the yard is full of snow, ice and floods. In a territory three times the size of France, where variations in temperature and weather conditions occur in a few minutes, is it surprising that the weather is the most common topic of conversation?
Of course, the media play an important role in the treatment of meteorological information and awareness of the risks of setting foot outside in Quebec. The excessive use of alarming terms, which Mme Seguin-Lamarche criticizes the media, reflects a sad reality. Today, information passes through the stimulation of the senses. When they approach the climate issue, the media always tend to approach the subject in an alarmist way, forgetting the underlying scientific uncertainty.
A study of the treatment of climate information in newspapers and TV networks in the United States revealed that climate issues are always presented in terms of fears, fears and risks. The study also showed that the frequency of certain terms in the news, such as the words “crisis”, “catastrophe”, “cataclysm” and “disaster”, has skyrocketed over the past 30 years. Fear sells.
In short, we allow doctors to warn us of the risks of diseases and cancers that await us if we do not change our habits. Let us then allow meteorologists to use the exact terms to describe the new climatic reality of our time. Rain or shine.