Do your local weathercasters completely suck?

[IDemo]

It's pretty much a given that the forecasts here are determined by a coin flip or dart toss. I'm reminded of a line from the movie "Airplane!": "There's a fifty-fifty chance, and a twenty percent chance of that".

[HipChick]

1. I wore bare legs and mini-skirt today...it was supposed to be warm and sunny out

I froze my butt of literally..and of course, it was windy too..

[IDemo]

2. This post is completely useless without pictures

:hi:

[Dr Morbius]

3. Quite the opposite.

Chicago (WGN-9) has Tom Skilling, hands down the best I've ever seen.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

17. Skilling's not bad but the rest are pretty poor.

The biggest problem with forecasting in Chicago is we have (at least) two different weather areas with I-88 roughly the dividing line. Some of the meteorologists use that as a fudge factor. They say 'rain moving in' then Tinley Park gets wet while Highland Park stays sunny and dry.

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. One of the major stations in Philly...

.
...would follow their weatherbabe's report with a shot of a
document (suitable for framing) declaring that she was
certified by some meteorological important-sounding national
certification board.
.
Some enterprising newspaper reporter checked the group and
found that you just had to submit a $15 fee and they would
certify ANYBODY.
.
They couldn't keep her on after that.
.

[PRETZEL]

28. I never heard that before,

who was it?

[MiddleFingerMom]

31. I don't remember...

.
...one of the more forgettable ex-pageant contestants that
the stations ran through -- I moved there in '81, so it was
almost certainly during the 80's -- and it was a Philadelphia
Inquirer reporter that did the checking.
.

[mycatfred]

5. We don't even have local weather

The nearest news station is a state over. And we aren't even close to the border.
So, not sure if he sucks, he just never give us a usable forecast.

[blogslut]

6. Our local weather folk do not suck

They're quite wonderful actually. A little cornball sometimes but we take our weather rather seriously around here and our meteorologists don't fuck around. This time of year they are especially awesome.

[cherokeeprogressive]

7. Johnny, Fritz, and Dallas. Three cool guys that suck sometimes.

Dallas Raines even has a website dedicated to him... http://www.crouchingdallas.com

[Skittles]

8. my dad was a meteorologist

when people complained about weather forecasting he would tell them, "YOU go up against Mother Nature - see how YOU do."

[ThoughtCriminal]

9. Always predict 40%

http://thoughtcrimewave.blogspot.com/2009/01/careers-in-40-forecasting.html

[Manifestor_of_Light]

10. We have an asshole in Tyler that makes cracks about global warming.

Since Jan and Feb. were cold and we had lots of snow. Channel 6, I think it is .

Those guys supposedly have degrees in meteorology and it's damn complicated -- they use calculus and computer models and all that. But hey, in East Texas, the ignorance knows no bounds!!

[TreasonousBastard]

11. A while back the Times had an article about how weather forecasters tended...

to dismiss global warning no matter where they lived. I think there was a thread about it here.

Anyway, the conclusion was that weather people were schooled in looking at the short term while climatologists were looking long term. Climatologists, unfortunately, don't have news segments devoted to them.

Me, I almost wish I studied meteorology rather than economics ini college-- both are wrong at least half the time, but weather forecasters are actually listened to.

[hobbit709]

13. East Texas is a whole another universe.

My wife was from Palestine.

[hobbit709]

12. My dogs are more accurate.

They give me 45 minutes to an hour warning before the storm rolls in. If they're flashing all the severe weather warnings on the TV and the dogs are lying calmly on the floor, it ain't gonna happen.

[ChoralScholar]

14. As far as the Little Rock affiliates go...

KARK(NBC) seems to have the best technology, but the best meterologists are on KATV(ABC). Not necessarily the guys in front of the camera, but the guy in the back (Todd Yakoubian) is as sharp as a tack.

They also have a great weather blog, and during inclement weather, they broadcast directly from the weather-room on USTREAM, so you can watch them working.

http://www.katv.com/blogs/wx/

[Mopar151]

15. Many of the New England meteoroligists are quite good

The program at Lyndon (VT) State College turns out some good ones - they have their own lab (Burke Mountain) just up the road, which has some of the most extreme weather in the country. I've been a summer visitor there, and have seen an incredible thunderstorm charged up and unloaded, all in the same afternoon, from the same spot.
The local Fox afilliate stinks - too much hype & spin. New England Cable News (necn.com) is great - not just for the Boston area, but the whole region.

[Captain Hilts]

26. In Norfolk, VA they've had real meteorologists on TV since Joe Folkes...often former military

such as Fowlks, and Colonel Smith. But still have real guys.

[Kali]

16. I use the NOAA website now but back when we watched tee vee they sucked big time -

especially hated when they complained about rain. This is fucking Arizona. We LIKE rain. If rain is so damn inconvenient and such bad news to you, then go back to where ever you came from. We need and like it.

[qb]

18. They all get their forecasts from NOAA.

Local personalities tweak the numbers a little to make it look like they came up with it themselves.

Their computer models are based on years of relatively stable climate data and they don't work well in an era of climate change.

[azmouse]

19. It's not too bad.

They generally have two choices of forecast here: HOT and dry or warm and dry.

The few times we have rain in the forecast you'd think Noah's Flood was gonna happen again. Yep, they over-react just a bit to any chance of rain.

[AngryAmish]

20. Chicago has Tom Skilling

Completely awesome. His brother ran Enron. You might have heard of him.

[MrCoffee]

21. Blizzard Bill Spencer in Toledo, OH is the greatest weatherman ever

Mostly because he is deranged.

[NewJeffCT]

22. I don't bother to listen to them much

I just know that 75% of the time they predict snow, we'll get about half the predicted amount. Even when I was a kid, I figured that one out... the weatherman says 8-10" and we'd end up with 4-5"

[hippywife]

23. Actually, around here

they are pretty good. With all the tornado and severe storm events, they have to be. The National Weather Service here in Tulsa is one of the best, too.

[old mark]

24. The local weather guy always wears suits one size too small - his wrists

and beer belly hang out as does the bottom of his tie.

He uses phrases like "rain event".

Usually, his forecasts are pretty good, but the people on this channel all look rather like farmers on Saturday night....

mark

[Captain Hilts]

25. Sue Palka rocks. Fox5DC. nt

[TZ]

29. I really like her.

Like many she wasn't a scientist by training but you can really tell she's a HUGE weather geek. Some of these guys are just people trying to get TV time.

[Captain Hilts]

32. She actually has chased tornadoes and stuff. She's been here long enough that

she knows the weather patterns around here.

And what's not to like with her 1970s-style hair-do?

[mikeytherat]

27. Our local weatherdude is three sheets to the wind at all times.

We will have a "chanccccccccccce" of "ssssssssssschnow" and the roads will be "schliccccccck."

mikey_the_rat

[RoyGBiv]

30. Nope ...

OKC doesn't have much, but it has some of the best genuine meteorologists in the world. Many of the people who do television news here actually have meteorology degrees. Beyond that, there's just a wealth of weather information flowing out of Norman, OK on a regular basis that gets passed along quickly to television, radio, the papers, etc.


Oh, and if you want certainty with weather, move to the South Pole. "Today, it will be friggin' cold with a chance of penguins." That forecast should work for a few more years anyway. ;)