Friday, 13 January 2017

Why Can’t the Weatherman Get it Right?

Among modern occupations, only cult leaders and TV weathermen rival the technological visionary's ability to retain credibility despite all evidence to the contrary.
Nathan Myhrvold

Two weeks ago the weather forecast called for 10 – 15 cms of snow. Toronto doesn’t deal well with a few flakes let alone 10 – 15 cms so the city hunkered down. Everyone who had the option to work from home exercised that option. Parents waited impatiently by the radio to find out if the school buses would be cancelled. I opted to go into the office. The subway platform was eerily still with only two other people waiting. When the subway arrived the cars were virtually empty. It was almost like being in an episode of the Twilight Zone. As you may have guessed we didn’t have a snow storm. In fact we didn’t have any snow at all – not a single flake. A week later we had the same prediction. This time we had light snow that turned into rain and got washed away. Again, no storm or any snow to speak of.

Years ago I remember my grandmother leaving the house on a beautiful, warm, sunny summer day with an umbrella. I thought she was quite mad to be schlepping an umbrella when there was no rain in the forecast. I asked her why and her response was, “I don’t know how the weatherman makes a living”. Clearly not much has changed since then and more often than not I have an umbrella with my computer bag, regardless of the forecast. We have what is reported to be the most sophisticated weather tracking equipment in the world yet it seems that we still can’t forecast the weather with any degree of accuracy. How is it that massive floods, earthquakes and tsunamis still take us by surprise? And snow storms two weeks in a row never happen?


Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. Fool me 350,000 times, you are a weatherman.
Prikolov

Make someone smile today and don't leave the house without your umbrella.

Geri

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