By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – When Tropical Storm Bonnie threatened the coast of Southeast Louisiana a couple of weeks ago, the severity of the situation differed with the source of the weather forecast.

Many national outlets reacted as though another Hurricane Katrina were headed this way while local meteorologists tended to keep a more even keel when discussing the situation.

Ultimately, the storm barely even reached the area, so any panic created was unfounded.

Because of the differences among weather information outlets, last week L’Observateur asked visitors to its website what their favorite source for weather forecasts was.

Over half of those who responded said they still get their weather from local stations despite the proliferation of the Internet as well as the constant presence of national cable- and satellite-based outlets.

Websites did garner the second highest number of votes, however, with over a quarter of respondents saying their favorite weather source was the Internet.

At the same time, only half as many people said they liked getting weather reports from the Weather Channel or other national outlets.

A full breakdown of results follows:

• 53 percent of respondents chose “Local stations’ weather reports.”

• 14 percent of respondents chose “The Weather Channel or other national media outlets.”

• 28 percent of respondents chose “Weather-based websites.”

• 6 percent of respondents chose “Other.”