Enough with the Scary Headlines

I’m really getting tired of this. The Houston Chronicle is running a story (courtesy of the LA Times) with this title:

"Expect another big hit in October, forecasters say"

Who should expect this? From the word “another”, the obvious conclusion would seem to be the Gulf Coast. Yet when one actually reads the article, there are illuminating phrases like,

And while late-season storms tend to track eastward toward Florida or don't make landfall at all, the experts don't rule out the possibility of another major storm targeting the battered Gulf region.

And,

Klotzbach's forecast does not address where hurricanes make landfall or whether the Gulf Coast could be a target again.

Given the above, where on earth did that title come from?

I ran a news google searchto see if I could discover the answer, and found something illuminating (to me). As of 7:15 am, 26 online newspapers were citing the author Usha Lee McFarling. Of these, only two had spun the title to raise anxiety: The Houston Chronicle (cited above), and The SunHerald in South Mississippi, which was even more hysterical:

Forecasters betting another killer lurks in Atlantic basin"

Everybody else seems to be calmer, yet all of these sources are running the same article.
So why are some of the media along the Gulf Coast already starting to raise anxiety? The Katrita Phenomenon continues. It makes me tired to think about it.

Polimom said this @ 7:25 AM