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Friday, August 08, 2003

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Rain 'facts' don't wash

To the Editor:

The job of a newspaper is to get the facts straight and to be sure they are put in proper context to prevent misinterpretation. Your front-page news article of Aug. 6, "Heavy rains pound area," did not do that job.

The article correctly described the flooding in the Quakertown area. But then the flooding was attributed to "about two-thirds of an inch of rain (that) fell in less than four hours." This explanation was given authenticity by quoting AccuWeather Inc. as the source.

Yes, about two-thirds of an inch of rain did fall at Doylestown Airport, which is located just northeast of Cross Keys, but this modest quantity of rain certainly could not have caused the reported flooding in parts of the Bucks-Mont, even if it probably seemed like more because, according to AccuWeather, "It came down all at once."

In fact, the numerous downpours that traversed the area Tuesday afternoon left very variable quantities of rain, depending on location. Some areas received as much as two to three inchsed of rain based on radar estimates, and these were probably the flooded areas. This should have been pointed out be AccuWeather.

It appeared that even your reporters were not comfortable with the explanation that only two-thids of an inch of rain was the source of flooding. In the article they added an irrelevant explanation as to how much snow (a whopping seven inches) that amount of rain would have given us if it were winter.

So be aware that when writing about local weather, the facts can vary widely from location to location, and make sure the facts quoted fit the events on the ground.

Richard Hanauer

Furlong

Link to original article which inspired the letter.