The Irene Watch

Brace yourself. We’re about to go on the Irene Watch.

Other news will cease to exist. All we will hear for the next three days is that Irene is coming.

Irene is a Category 3 hurricane that is currently churning toward the East Coast. Indications are that it might – and again I say might – slam the Jersey shore.

I don’t pretend to know enough about these things to sounds as if I do.

I do know a little bit about news, and how we cover stories. And I know that when it comes to television, there is no story quite like a weather story. Think Storm of the Century, the summer edition.

That is why there are TV reporters now standing on the beach on what appears to be a gorgeous, tranquil late summer morning, watching the sun come up and warning us that Irene is coming.

Get used to it.

My guess: It rains. A lot. Around here, we get a rainy Sunday and some stiff breezes. The shore gets its usual flooding.

Other than that, I’ll leave it to the TV folks.

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