darksiege wrote:
When the **** did normal Vegas summer temperatures turn into some sort of heat related doom for the residents? Stupid ****.
Those parameters meet the National Weather Service's overall criteria for an excessive heat warning, regardless of how normal it might be for the area.
Our* goals include protecting life and property, and those are definitely life-threatening conditions. If some damn fool (maybe an out-of-towner?) decides it's a good idea to go work outside for 12 hours, he's probably going to be admitted to the local ER for heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Education through watches and warnings disseminated through local media and personal electronic devices is an easy way to raise awareness in the public and prevent these kinds of issues. The infrastructure's already built out - why not use it?
Does most people in Las Vegas really
need to know that 115 degree temperatures can kill you? Probably not. Just like most people in Wisconsin don't need to know it's not a good idea to go outside when the wind chill is -60, or the people in Florida don't need to know that it's going to hail/lightning like armageddon for a half hour each afternoon in summer. But if the watch or warning saves one life, it's worth the minimal effort to push that information out.
Besides, you'd be surprised how many people really do need to be educated about weather. There are still people who think it's a good idea to hide from a tornado under an overpass, that the skyscrapers along the beach will deflect a hurricane, or that it can't hurt to test the flood waters a little bit with their car.
*Volunteer, not employee