Watching the reports from hurricane Wilma, it amazes me how much the news media hypes things. DISCLAIMER: I KNOW IT'S A DANGEROUS STORM

That having been said, I wonder what the modern media would do with a storm the likes of the 1938 huuricane that hit the east coast? It flooded much of southern New England, including flooding Providence RI with up to 15 feet of water. Top recorded winds were over 180 MPH, caused by the storm's strength and forward velocity of 70 MPH.

They hype Wilma as the "strongest storm ever recorded", yet fail to inform people that they only count storms of the last 100 years because they don't trust older instrument readings. Sailors in the 17th and 18th century record waves that were over the tops of the masts of their ships, but those aren't accurate because the sailors were known to exaggerate. Some storms in that era destroyed entire fleets, but the records don't count.

If you're going to make a claim that given historical data is quesitonable, at least give the disclaimer that the storm data is only considered accurate since______ the same prominence as your 200 point headline.