Weathermen/women

[Valuist]

Many of us get on TVG's handicappers for not showing their past results. How about weathermen (or women)? Here in the Chicago area they are predicting 20-24 inches of snow over the next few days.......I will be quite surprised if it comes anywhere near that total. The weathermen have ZERO accountability. Have you ever heard a weatherman apologize for a $hitty forecast? "I'm sorry to all you people who cancelled your Saturday barbecue plans because I said heavy rains, but I just f-d up. In fact, I've been total $hit with my forecasts all week." No you never hear that. And the result? Over-predicting of rain and snow, and always erring on the outlandish side.

[Tom]

Weathermen = joke.
Any weather report over 30 seconds is a waste of time.

[PaceAdvantage]

They have to err on the max side...if not, and it happens to snow 24 inches, they're screwed for not warning everyone...

[boxcar]

They have to err on the max side...if not, and it happens to snow 24 inches, they're screwed for not warning everyone...

What a thankless occupation. :D

Boxcar

[mostpost]

Many of us get on TVG's handicappers for not showing their past results. How about weathermen (or women)? Here in the Chicago area they are predicting 20-24 inches of snow over the next few days.......I will be quite surprised if it comes anywhere near that total. The weathermen have ZERO accountability. Have you ever heard a weatherman apologize for a $hitty forecast? "I'm sorry to all you people who cancelled your Saturday barbecue plans because I said heavy rains, but I just f-d up. In fact, I've been total $hit with my forecasts all week." No you never hear that. And the result? Over-predicting of rain and snow, and always erring on the outlandish side.
Weathermen don't have to show their results. They're always wrong. Nevertheless it's always better to err on the side of caution. I cancelled my outdoor pool party, made sure I had candles and batteries, stocked up on food a little and most important made sure my two kitties had enough food and litter.

[johnhannibalsmith]

Weatherhumans in Arizona are the greatest. A single drop of rain anywhere in the state is all anyone will talk about for days... so needless to say, the weatherhumans on the local newscasts ALWAYS have a day or two witha chansa in the next week... Rain sells baby.

[Dave Schwartz]

I have always considered TV weathermen to be somewhat of a joke. First, all they do is report the weather. The National Weather Service provides the predictions.

About 15 years ago here in Reno, we had one of the local weathermen who was doing his own predictions. He would interpret what the NWS provided and vary quite a bit. He was horrible.

LOL

[Tom]

They have to err on the max side...if not, and it happens to snow 24 inches, they're screwed for not warning everyone...

OK, I get it.
They are show bettors! :D

[BlueShoe]

Amusing is it not? Science cannot predict with any degree of certainty what the weather will be like five days from now. In spite of this, liberals tell us that the polar ice caps will be gone, the seas will rise, and temperatures will be far higher ten years from now, unless we all stop using plastic bags, start using the type of lightbulb the government tells us to, and start driving electric cars, or at least a hybrid.

[Robert Goren]

These are the same attitudes that caused people to ride out Hurricane Katrina and end up in the Super Dome.

[Ocala Mike]

I thought this was a thread about some anti-war radicals. Oops, carry on!

Meanwhile, it's sunny and 75 degrees down here. We have to wait for hurricane season for our "snow days."

A good, but underrated, film: "The Weather Man" (2005) - Nicolas Cage


Ocala Mike

[Valuist]

They have to err on the max side...if not, and it happens to snow 24 inches, they're screwed for not warning everyone...

Why are they screwed? Is their job to (in their minds) look out for our best interests? Or is it to give predictions? IMO, their job is to make predictions and let us look out for our own best interests.

[ArlJim78]

they're really covering all bases now. I've just heard them calling for snowfall in the range of 1-3 feet. and they're using a term I've never heard of before, they said there will be periodic thundersnow. what the hell is thundersnow?

[Robert Goren]

they're really covering all bases now. I've just heard them calling for snowfall in the range of 1-3 feet. and they're using a term I've never heard of before, they said there will be periodic thundersnow. what the hell is thundersnow?I have been in that. Thundering during snow. It was really coming down. We got 10 inches in 3 hours.

[NJ Stinks]

We had thundersnow last Wednesday night. The thunder was brief and accompanied by lightning. The weatherman on TV said that usually it only happens when it is snowing the hardest.

Can't say I remember it happening around here before last Wednesday.

[melman]

NJ---Thundersnow is uncommon, however I recall at least six times that it happened here in SE Penna. Same as you last WED. Also during the huge storm of 26 inches last year there was thunder and lightning.

These snow storms IMO are not the worst thing falling from the sky. Maybe over in NJ you did not get the full effect of the ICE STORM of I think 1993. Not sure of the year and too lazy to look it up. However a severe ice storm bothers me much much more than a bad snow storm.

During that ice storm in the 90's you just could not move. Traffic was at a complete standstill for days. Our small down ran out of salt. They were putting down ash for traction. My neighbor at the time was also the towns chief of police. Even he had tons of trouble moving around. I think anyone living in our area remembers it all to well. A nightmare.

[ArlJim78]

I agree, nothing worse than a bad ice storm. power lines and trees down all over, you can't drive even if you wanted to. at least with a snow storm you don't lose your power.

[bigmack]

Many of us get on TVG's handicappers for not showing their past results. How about weathermen (or women)? Here in the Chicago area they are predicting 20-24 inches of snow over the next few days.
I remember vividly how wrong they can be in Chicago but how are you basing your predictions of this storm? Looks like it may indeed be a doozy.

[Valuist]

I remember vividly how wrong they can be in Chicago but how are you basing your predictions of this storm? Looks like it may indeed be a doozy.

Maybe it will but the hype has been beyond belief. One local weather guy had a computer model that said Chicago would get 31 inches of snow. Phrases like "life endangering event" are a bit much. Bigmack, were you around here in the late 70s- early 80s? We had some monster snows then but people just shrugged it off as $hitty Midwestern weather.

[bigmack]

Bigmack, were you around here in the late 70s- early 80s? We had some monster snows then but people just shrugged it off as $hitty Midwestern weather.
Solid point. Yeah, I don't remember them using life & death hyperbole to forecast weather back then.

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u70/macktime/weatoons.jpg

[ArlJim78]

so far I'd say this blizzard is living up to the hype.

[dav4463]

We had Thundersnow and Thundersleet last night in Texas. Super Bowl festivities have pretty much ground to a halt.