Last night (Monday, April 28) the National Weather Service sent out a tornado warning for Knox county and various counties in Tennessee. However, Tennessee was not the only state cautioned to take cover. In fact, almost the entire eastern half of the United States was under a severe weather watch the past three days because of tornadoes, high winds and hail. CNN.com, DJournal.com and nbcnews.com have all covered the weather disaster, but in different ways.
The article begins with the headline “75 Million Americans under threat of severe weather.” Right away, readers are able to understand the impact of these storms and how many people are at risk. Furthermore, the line in the first paragraph, “Missouri to New York and Michigan to Florida” shows the widespread scope of the storms. The paragraph ends by stating 29 people have already died.
The article’s main focus is on today’s (Tuesday’s) weather. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said nearly 2.5 million people in parts of Alabama and Mississippi were at moderate risk of of tornadoes. The threat would then drift east into Georgia, northern Florida, the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic states. Yet, the region extending from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico is still at risk too.
The article is split into sections based on date and location. ‘Act II’ talks about Sunday’s weather and the impact it had on the central United States including Oklahoma, Iowa and Arkansas. While ‘It Hurts to Look’ focuses on the destruction in Mississippi and Alabama. Both these sections give anecdotes of survival stories, and links to videos are given to enhance the story. With a story like this, videos are essential. People want to see pictures and videos of what happened. The story is also filled with great detail. For example, it gives numbers of people that were left without power in Alabama, and tells the exact location of certain buildings that were destroyed. The article was well writen, detail-oriented and gave lots of information.
The Daily Journal, a northeastern Mississippi newspaper, takes a local stance on the storms. Former Tupelo, Mississippi resident, John Servati, passed away Monday after a retaining wall collapsed on him during a tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He saved the life of his girlfriend by shielding her from the collapse. John was a swimmer at the University of Alabama. Substantial quotes are given by Servati’s high school swimming coach in addition to his Alabama swimming coach and teammates. These quotes give emotional appeal to the story. The article also gives a look back at Servati’s swimming career. Giving his background furthers the emotional appeal of the article. People feel as though they can relate to Servati, almost as though they knew him themselves. Furthermore, the audience can sympathize with his family and friend’s loss. The pictures add flare to the story, but are not as powerful as the videos in the first article.
This article was my favorite of the three. It focuses on how and why America is the twister capital of the world–a fact I never knew. According to the article, four factors make the U.S. the No. 1 spot for tornadoes.
1. mountain wall to the west (The Rockies)
2. warm ocean to the southeast (The Gulf of Mexico)
3. cold air “shield” to the north
4. jet stream that surges eastward at hundreds of miles per hour
America averages about 1,000 twisters annually. Canada takes the No. 2 spot, but with only about 100 twisters annually. All continents have tornadoes except for Antarctica.
Essentially, this article answers almost all questions one would have about tornadoes. It explains everything from how tornadoes form to detail-rich geographical explanations of why the U.S. holds the No. 1 spot on the twister list. Furthermore, the quotes and credibility of sources is substantial. Experts in fields of geography and weather are attributed. The article also compares the geographical landscape of the United States to other continents and explains in great detail how the threat of storms differs.
Like the other articles, visual aids are provided. Two videos are given, one describing the story of a family’s survival yet destruction of their home, and another showing how the storm has moved across the nation.
Overall, plenty of articles will describe the destruction of the storms and may put a local twist on it, but not many articles will tell how and why the storms began.
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