I'm just going to select a few choice bits from the most recent AP post about the Typhoon Lupit.
Cruel, erratic, baffling, frustrating, would ram, barreled on course, dangerous system.
Even though I've selected the words and taken them out of context they are a very descriptive selection. The whole article makes it seem the Typhoon could be a serious shock just after a huge one.
Would you like some reality instead?
Lupit is a tropical storm, downgraded from a typhoon. It's not going to slice trough Philippines like the article says, it's not barreling on course to anywhere since it's moving at 1 knot. It's sustained winds are 55 knots peaking at 70. That's still a 10 (of 12) on the Beaufort scale, but it wouldn't qualify as a hurricane.
Sure, there is now a storm headed for Philippines, but that's a serious swing and a miss for AP. Hrvoje Hranjski wrote it, but he should have checked his facts near publication too.
I kept wondering why Lupit didn't get any more attention in the news (while it still was a typhoon heading for Philippines,) and when someone finally wrote something we got this. Instead of say, reliable reporting.
Here is the article I'm talking about:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091023/ap_on_re_as/as_asia_storm
Here you can find the storm warning I used to check my facts:
http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/wp2209web.txt
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