Weather Hype

A tragic accident involving an amphibious vehicle commonly known as a duck boat has claimed the lives of 17 people including nine members of one family. It happened on Table Rock Lake near the tourist town of Branson, Missouri as two different duck boats carrying dozens of passengers were hit by a severe thunderstorm on the evening of July 19, 2018. While one boat was able to make it to shore safely, the other boat carrying 31 people unfortunately capsized, with 17 people losing their lives. Here’s what Jim Pattison Jr, the president of Ripley Entertainment who owns the duck boat company said during a interview with CBS This Morning: “to the best of our knowledge, there was a fast-moving storm that came out of nowhere." His quote has received a lot of criticism from meteorologists and the weather community. On this episode of Weather Hype, we breakdown the duck boat tragedy from a weather communication perspective and ask: Was this accident preventable? Did the duck boat company actually receive information a