TV weather?

Question

Why do we watch the news and listen to the weather report when all they are doing is guessing anyway?

Answer 1

Guessing is only a part of the weather forecast,that too, based on old statistics.
For example,from old statistics,if it is known that a hurricane formed at a particular place and particular time of the year,follow a particular path,forecasting the same path can be done for a hurricane formed under similar conditions. Sometimes it may go wrong due to various reasons.It does not mean that it is a guess work.As Howard H above said,if there is a rain forecast in your area,you expect it to rain on your house or head.That is the problem.

Answer 2

Having lived most of my 62 years in "Tornado Alley" (Texas Panhandle, Central Oklahoma, and South Central Kansas) and being a licensed pilot, I've come to pay close attention to weather forecasts. Yes, meteorologists are guessing but they are educated guesses expressed within a range of probable error after analyzing an enormous set of variables.

Only once have I ever found myself "up here wishing I were down there" and I knew I was betting that I would beat the storm to the airport by an hour or two. The weather briefer correctly forecast the ugly airmass thunderstorms so common in central Oklahoma in the summer, they just developed in half the time. I took the forecast seriously enough to devise a "Plan B" ahead of time and got on the ground at an alternate airport in time to avoid a 70 MPH gust front that could have led to a disaster.

I'll bet that if you kept a log for a year, you'd find that decisions about activities you planned three days in advance with an eye to the weather forecast would be right much more often than not.

Answer 3

What most people don't understand is that the weather forecast is for "the region," not "your location." In other words, if a Chicago TV weather person reports a 20% chance of rain, it means that there is a 20% chance of rain IN THE CHICAGO AREA, not necessarily right at your house or school.