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unblock

(51,974 posts)
1. i can't stand cnn but i have no problem with this claim.
Tue Jan 7, 2014, 04:10 PM
Jan 2014

as long as they didn't say that the entire u.s. was below freezing. I'm sure Hawaii wasn't alone in having parts above and parts below freezing.

xocet

(3,870 posts)
2. It is stipulated that CNN's claim is technically correct.
Tue Jan 7, 2014, 05:10 PM
Jan 2014

However, the Hawaiian Islands are nowhere near below-freezing temperatures anywhere else:

Temperature and Climate Zones

Weather in Hawaii is very consistent, with only minor changes in temperature throughout the year. There are really only 2 seasons in Hawaii: summer (called Kau in Hawaiian) from May to October and winter (Hooilo) from November to April. The average daytime summer temperature at sea level is 85º F. (29.4 C) while the average daytime winter temperature is 78º (25.6º C). Temperatures at night are approximately 10º F. lower.

The islands are an incredible collection of diverse micro-environments, each with its own unique weather, plants, and animals. As a result of the shielding effect of volcanic mountains and the differences in weather found at various elevations, you can find tropical rain forests, cool alpine regions, arid deserts, and sunny beaches - all within the span of just a few miles.

...

http://www.gohawaii.com/statewide/travel-tips/weather


Hence, CNN is either producing trivia as news or exaggeration as news. They might as well be reporting on dogs barking in all 50 states.

unblock

(51,974 posts)
3. there's something substantively different between "below freezing" and "dogs barking" in 50 states
Wed Jan 8, 2014, 01:49 AM
Jan 2014

would cnn have risen dramatically in your book if they had specified 49 states? or the continental u.s. or something like that? or should they have only mentioned the states where this was unusual? or specifically mentioned hawaii's as having gotten in "only" because it has cold weather atop a mountain, which somehow makes it different from a place like arizona or texas, which probably wasn't entirely below freezing either?

technicality or not, having at least one spot reporting below freezing temperatures in all 50 states is a rarity, unlike dogs barking. the weather in fact was certainly newsworthy.

alaska having a spot below freezing in january is certainly a dogs barking story. but all 50 states? sorry, that's newsworthy, even if it's normal in north dakota and atop a hawaiian mounting.

xocet

(3,870 posts)
6. The dog barking comment actually refers to CNN's level of journalism and is not related to the
Thu Jan 9, 2014, 04:57 PM
Jan 2014

temperature distribution across the US.

unblock

(51,974 posts)
7. yes, it was pretty obvious that "dogs barking" was meant to refer to reporting a non-story.
Thu Jan 9, 2014, 05:09 PM
Jan 2014

or something comparably trivial or useless.

 

demwing

(16,916 posts)
4. "All 50 States Have Below-Freezing Temps"
Wed Jan 8, 2014, 11:27 AM
Jan 2014

was a 100% accurate statement, not just correct on a technicality--unless the "technicality" is the fact that somewhere in the state the temperature dropped below the point where water freezes.



If that fact can be labeled a technicality, then so can anything. Reporting "Barack Obama is President of all 50 States" is clearly just trivia, or an exaggeration, because Obama only won 26 of 50 states. Hell, according to that logic, saying "Obama won 26 of 50 States" would also be a "technicality" because not everyone in each of those 26 states voted for Obama.

xocet

(3,870 posts)
5. So, do you think that Hawaii is suffering under sub-freezing temperatures with 49 other states?
Thu Jan 9, 2014, 04:50 PM
Jan 2014

Most of Hawaii has nowhere near sub-freezing temperatures; the polar vortex did not extend that far to the south. CNN's report focused on the extreme cold and the effects of the polar vortex. That was the spirit of the CNN report. That is the context that you are missing. Watch that report - they exaggerate just to have something to say. The screen shot does not capture that.

Here is the polar vortex from January 7, 2014:



Here is a more responsible report (though it relies on a sensationalistic headline) that eventually somewhat strips away the sensationalism that CNN chose to foster:


US weather: all 50 states fall below freezing
All 50 of America’s states recorded temperatures below freezing at some point on Tuesday and even the polar bear at Chicago zoo spent most of the day indoors, as bitterly cold air gripped the country

By David Millward, in Maine and Peter Foster in Washington

8:43PM GMT 07 Jan 2014

Parts of the country which were not victims of the “Polar vortex” that afflicted swathes of the US none the less suffered abnormally chilly weather as US authorities declared it the coldest Jan 7 on record.

The lowest temperature was reported at Embarrass, Minnesota, a township of just over 600 people, where the thermometer fell to -35F (-37C). Once the wind chill factor was taken into account, the temperature felt as low as -45F (-43C).

On Hawaii the weather station on Mauna Kea, the island’s highest mountain, recorded a temperature of 21F (-6C), and temperatures plummeted at all levels in the southern states of the US mainland.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10557293/US-weather-all-50-states-fall-below-freezing.html



unblock

(51,974 posts)
8. unless cnn said that the entire country was below freezing, then i have no problem with it.
Thu Jan 9, 2014, 05:18 PM
Jan 2014

it's fine to say that each state reported below freezing in at least one place. it's a remarkable fact, even if Alaska being below freezing (whether in whole or in part) in january is a "dog barking" kind of story, and even if hawaii's highest mountaintop being below freezing had nothing to do with the weather patterns affecting the mainland.

i don't understand your issue here. at a high-level, it certainly was remarkably cold, newsworthy-remarkably cold.

you're acting as if you think they got the general idea right but said something that wasn't technically correct (which is certainly a very common error in journalism) except that in this case they did get it technically right.


xocet

(3,870 posts)
9. I appreciate your commentary.
Thu Jan 9, 2014, 09:11 PM
Jan 2014

I would have to go back and look at their report again to be sure, but at the time it seemed as if they wanted the story to be more than "Hey, look, every state has at least one place that is below freezing!" I could certainly be wrong about their intent, and if I am, then I would have to agree with you.

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