Is it possible to be *too* well-informed about a hurricane? It's a real issue for tourism on the Grand Strand, with many potential visitors getting conflicting or unclear information about Hurricane Earl's path.
Lots of weather information is great, but it can also lead to media hype and mistaken conclusions about where a storm is headed. And that can have serious consequences for the Grand Strand economy.
Through TV, cell phone applications, and the internet, it's easy now to keep constant track of a hurricane like Earl. The problem is all the science and that familiar cone of uncertainty can turn some people into armchair meteorologists, who make their own - often mistaken - projections.
"Information's good when it's helping to keep us safe and secure and prepared, " says Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. "But when it alarms people unnecessarily it can certainly impact our economy."
Dean says it doesn't help that the national media often present vague references to Earl striking "the Coastal Carolinas", which can give people the wrong impression about its impact on Myrtle Beach. "Particularly in markets like Ohio, Pennsylvania where they don't know about hurricanes. Oftentimes it gets portrayed as the one area, when in fact we know it's literally hundreds if not thousands of miles."
Dean says the chamber works with local forecasters, like First Alert Chief Meteorologist Ed Piotrowski, to make sure there's no question about what to expect here. "What we try to do is, as best we can, make sure the visitors who are contacting us on the internet, over the phone have accurate information."
So far, visitors to the Grand Strand seem to be getting it right about Earl.
The National Hurricane Center does not put on its web site any graphics of the computer models it uses to produce its forecasts. They say those graphics just tend to confuse people.
This year, the hurricane center began putting out hurricane watches 48 hours in advance of landfall instead of 36, giving people more time to prepare.
