Honestly, this is NOT a new concept, but rather a very old one brought around again to stir up the masses into a panic.
I'm 44. As a child in the early 80's, I often heard that at some point the message would change to a hailstone or "we told ya so!" type of message. So frankly, this is nothing new. The fact that it appears that they are now ready to play this card, really shows their desperation. Even the build-up to 1975 wasn't played as the "hailstone message." Once this card is played, if nothing happens they are utterly FUGGED! There's no going back from it or trying to smooth it over. You'd truly have to be a moron to stay in after that. But then again, people stayed in after '75 came and went, some even buying WT's lame-ass excuses of the rank-n-file "running ahead" and making it up. (when it was clearly WT HQ pushing it)