Topic: "Another big whiff by TV weather forecasters"

[WeatherHost]

KDKA’s Jeff Verszyla might want to crawl into the hole with Punxsutawney Phil, having predicted 7.9 inches of snow for January and “slightly above normal” temperatures. The actual total was 17.9 inches, ninth-snowiest January in recorded history per the National Weather Service, and the monthly average temperature was 6.2 degrees below normal, making it the 16th-coldest January on record.

Our forecast: These guys will continue to shamelessly offer long-range forecasts in an effort to hype their ratings. We should assign those forecasts a zero percent chance of credibility.

http://blogs.post-gazette.com/news/the-roundabout/40499-another-big-whiff-by-tv-weather-forecasters

 

[Farmtalk]

Heard something that Charlotte's Brad Panovich said. He said that quantity is not quality. Everybody has a weather app on their iphone or android. The quantity of people using that does not give it credibility for being valid. Be aware of the quality of weather data you are examining.

As long as people can be persuaded to believe a long term forecast like that, forecasters will do that.

[CSB]

Here in the Milwaukee Wisconsin area we have one station that goes out 10 days. If they can't get a 24 hr. forecast right why would they want to go 10 days out?
CSB

[PatrioticRick]

Depends on which news station your looking at, they don't seem to come close to each other.   One says one thing the other says another.  We have three news stations but two are owned by the same company, so they have the same weather guy and he's usually wrong.   It's comical how the 7 day forecast changes every news cast.

[BigOkie]

Depends on which news station your looking at, they don't seem to come close to each other.   One says one thing the other says another.  We have three news stations but two are owned by the same company, so they have the same weather guy and he's usually wrong.   It's comical how the 7 day forecast changes every news cast.

That being said, it's no different with the NWS.  Weather is, regardless of what many people think, not an exact science.  I doubt it ever will be in my lifetime.

And getting winter weather forecasts right is worse than any, given the dynamic for air parcel temperature changes.  Remember an just .1 of rain can equal an inch of snow.  If they miss rain by two tenths of an inch, very few people care.  That same amount in the winter...or more?  Different story.