![]() So why has it fallen out of vogue to make a weather forecast? The stakes are much lower for weather forecasters. Lawyers lose cases, doctors lose patients and rocket scientists lose rockets. Lawyers, doctors and rocket scientists are also often wrong. Denying your viewers potentially valuable information - even if it's a week or more away - because you don't want to be wrong (but you hold the information) is a interpretably dishonest. ![]() However, waiting until the last minute to actually step out and make a forecast is called "now"casting. " I'd rather be right than be first." (That's what one meteorologist said of my Christmas week forecast.) Arguably cliche, but catchy. (Hey, you said we'd only have a 30% chance for rain, but it poured at my house!) Understand? You know the saying, " In what other job can you be wrong all the time and keep your job?"Įven if you're right 99% of the time, viewers will only give you, "20% accuracy", if you're lucky. Viewers already assume you're going to get it wrong anyway. (Have you noticed yet, that KHOU is always first to call the big weather changes? We're generally accurate in the long-range outlook.) If you don't feel uncertain, you're either not doing your job or you've transcended humanity and are enjoying the realm of the Gods. Our experience and knowledge helps us navigate through the data. If you're not feeling that way at least a few times per day, it means you're not working. There's no worse feeling for a meteorologist than being uncertain. Ask my weather colleagues at KHOU, as we work together every day as a team, sweating out the details to bring you the best. If our job is done correctly, it's uncomfortable.
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