The CNN meteorlogist in the field made a serious mistake that may have alarmed a lot of people, while looking foolish standing in the wind of Hurricane Jeanne (but, who am I to judge, I was watching). He said that because of the forward motion of 14 mph and the 115 mph wind speed there would be 129 mph winds arriving on the north side soon. That is not how it works...the forward motion of the storm is added to the wind speed circling the storm...so it is 14 mph higher on the right (in this case, north side) of the storm and 14 mph slower on the left side. But, the hurricane is rated at the maximum overall wind speed....which was 115 mph...you subtract (14 + 14 mph) from that to get the speed on the other side...so, 115 mph on the north, 87 mph on the south. No 129 mph. It is the difference between losing your roof or your life and not.

If a "meteorologist" whose job it was to cover the storm can't get that right, what hope have we got for a big California earthquake for reporters to get it right for things that need to be communicated then? The meteorlogist has had 4 chances to practice communicating in less than 2 months, while the California reporters have not had much practice since 1994.....
Chris