One More Post on the Weather
Having some final thoughts about this weekend’s discussion. Why not throw some hardball questions not just at Mike Morgan, but also at Rick Mitchell, Gary England and Brady Brus?
Give Mike credit for at least firing back. Now let’s see if the others do as well. Maybe we can understand them better. Or maybe they’ll end up with a better understanding of their viewers’ concerns.
1. Are you the final word on forecasts at your station? Is there anyone in a position to second guess your forecast or call it into question?
2. Do you believe your judgment is better than that of the National Weather Service? If so, why?
3. When you are about to broadcast a forecast that is dramatically different than that of the National Weather Service and other stations (as with Friday’s call for a “significant icing event” and power outages in Oklahoma City), do you put a call out to the National Weather Service to ask why they’re not making the same call?
4. Should television weather forecasters be in contact with the National Weather Service when their forecasts are at odds?
5. Is there pressure by producers or station management to add drama or excitement to your forecasts?
6. How aware are you of the loss that is sustained by businesses by bad forecasts?
Gary, Rick and Brady – Mike and I are waiting for you to join in on the fun!
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Comments
Nope. But it’s my blog and this topic interests me. If you and Steven don’t like it, you can come back later.
I think this is a great idea. It’s timely and people are definitely interested in it.
This is the first time I’ve seen someone in the local media start dialog about television weather forecasts and their impact on local economy. Kudos to you, Steve.
These are great questions, Steve. I would be interested in each of the OKC weathermen answering them. I think it’s important to remember that our weathermen are nearly always correct with their forecasts. They do excellent work on severe weather (though I do think they get a little dramatic sometimes), temperatures, rain forecasts, etc. We probably have the best local weathermen in the country overall.
THE LOCAL GUYS AT CHANNEL 4 ARE NTERESTED IN RATINGS ONLY. THEY REALLY DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT US, THE J. Q. PUBLIC. ITS ALL ABOUT RATINGS AND MONEY AND GRANDSTANDING. WE GO THROUGH THIS EVERY YEAR, EVERY YEAR. I AM TIRED OF THEM PRE-EMPTING THE NATIONAL NEWS AND EVERYTHING ELSE SO THEY CAN PUT ON “THE WEATHER SHOW”. MIKE MORGAN AND DAVID PAYNE COULDN’T PREDICT THE WEATHER LOOKING OUT THEIR DAMN DOOR. IF YOU SCAN ALL THE CHANNELS DURING THE WEATHER CONTEST, YOU’LL NOTICE MM AND DP ALWAYS HAVE MORE TORNADOES, HAIL 3 TIMES BIGGER THAN ANYONE ELSE, AND WHO IN THE PUBLIC REALLY CARES ABOUT THE WIND SHEAR? IT’S ALL ABOUT DOG AND PONY. I THINK THEY BOTH SHOULD RESIGN NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF THEY DON’T, WE’LL BE PUTTING UP WITH THEIR BULLSHIT AGAIN ALL SUMMER.
I totally agree, Brian. We are so completely spoiled here! “Local weather” is an oxymoron in practically all of the country. And we all know how undependable and inaccurate the Weather Channel can be…
OUR LOCAL WEATHERMANARE NOT FORECASTERS FOLKS. THEY ARE SALEMEN. THEY ARE ALL HOOKED INTO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN, AND THEY TAKE THE GOVT INFO AND PUT THEIR SPIN ON IT. THEIR COMPUTERS ARE HOOKED IN AS WELL. THEY DONT SIT AND STUDY WEATHER MAPS AND CRAP FOR HOURS AND MAKE GUESSES. THEY TAKE WHAT THE REAL FORECASTERS IN NORMAN DELIVER AND SPIN IT INTO THEIR SHOW. I PERSONALLY BUILT ONE OF THE WEATHER SETS HERE IN OKC AT A MAJOR STATION, CUSTOM DESIGNED EVERY SQUARE INCH, AND HAVE WATCHED THEM. ITS ALL FOR SHOW.
I CAN ASSURE YOU THE ABOVE POST IS NOT PAYNE YOU ASS, JUST SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE TRUTH HOW YOU OPERATE.
THE ONLY REAL METEOROLIGIST OF THE BUNCH IS GARY ENGLAND. THE REST ARE JUST OVERPAID “TALENT”, LOL. MM AND PAYNE’S SPECIALTY IS SCARING THE HELL OUT OF THE OLDER POPULATION WITH THEIR SHOW. SOMEDAY, SOME PERSON IS GOING TO DIE, NOT FROM A TORNADO, BUT FROM BEING SCARED TO DEATH FROM MM & HIS SIDEKICK. THEN MAYBE THEY’LL GET THEIR JUSTICE.
I’ve never looked at the National Weather Service’s forecasts – I would guess that most Oklahomans don’t as well. I trust the local station’s weathermen enough not to do so. I also wouldn’t expect them to have to call or discuss their forecasts with each other as you question.
My question to you would be where would it stop? Along the same lines, if you think they should contact the NWS, why aren’t you asking why they don’t call the other news weathermen as well?
Although the news weathermen are in a business, I highly doubt they are told to dramatize their forecasts as you suggest – and I guarantee they would never admit to doing so – so why even ask?
I don’t think the consequences of their forecasts on business should EVER play into account when they make their predictions. Lives are on the line and this should always be the priority.
One last opinion, the weathermen should never be second guessed by anyone else in their newsroom. Are you expecting this is the case or suggesting this should be the case?
HOW OLD ARE YOU KEVIN?
YOU SHOUDLN’T TAKE ANYONE’S WORD ABOUT ANYTHING. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR OWN INVESTIGATION IF YOU ARE SO CONCERNED ABOUT THIS. LET ME GUESS, YOU ARE IN COLLEGE. PROBABLY VOTED FOR OBAMA, AND YOU ARE CERTAINLY WET BETWEEN THE EARS. I WORKED AT ONE LOCAL STATION FOR ABOUT 18 MONTHS AND DEMOLISHED AND REBUILT THE NEWS OFFICES AND THE OLD WEATHER ROOM, THAT HAD A WINDOW OUT, LOL, AND BUILT THE WEATHER ROOM. HAD TO TEAR DOWN AND REDO WALLS TO MAKE ROOM FOR EQUIPMENT CHANGES. DID YOU KNOW, CH 4 STOLE MIKE MORGAN FROM CH 5, AND PAID HIM A SALARY TO KEEP HIM ALL THE WHILE MIKE MORGAN RODE OUT HIS NON COMPETE CLAUSE WITH CHANNEL 5? HUH? YOU THINK THEY DID THAT OUT OF CONCERN FOR YOUR LIFE?
THEY DID IT STRICTLY FOR RATINGS. IN TV AND RADIO, RATINGS = MONEY. THEY ARE IN BUSINESS TO MAKE A PROFIT FOR THEIR OWNERS, STOCKHOLDERS. ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY.
I don’t know any of the weather anchors in the OKC market, but I do know some in a market not too far away and they aren’t just some talent putting spin on the NWS forecasts. They actually have degrees in what they do and know the science of forecasting, otherwise they wouldn’t be allowed to put the seals next to their name. The only person in the market without the seal appears to be Greg Whitworth over at Fox 25. So you can’t say they are just talent. Otherwise, Payne would already be dead from all the tornado chasing he does. But the point is, don’t totally dismiss them. Sure, they hype it a bit. They wouldn’t have a job otherwise. What do you think the point of the weather blog is @ KOCO? To get more viewers. It’s not just for educating people on the weather. Everyone hypes. Sometimes it costs them their jobs. Jon Slater on Fox 25 was let go from Fox 23 in Tulsa for grandstanding. But for the most part the weather anchors in our market do alright. Grandstand a bit, but do alright.
I do rely greatly on the NWS (www.noaa.gov) for weather predictions, they however are not always 100% correct, no one always can be, it is impossible to predict that today is going to be exactly 75°, three clouds will pass by and look out this evening Yukon will get sprinkles yet Bethany will see a large tornado, come on, they do their job to the best of their ability just as the rest of us do. Have you ever heard Gary, MM or Payne say that their forecast is going to be perfect? No, they usually know it will change day to day, so get used it, we live in Oklahoma and the weather does not cooperate to what the wonderful meteorologists may have to think or forecast, but i would say they do a pretty damn good job, how many lives are saved by these men, and if they do not get the viewers a little worked up they seem to not take them quite as seriously as they should, and those are the ones whom usually get into trouble when the weather goes sour.
IM NOT PICKING ON THE WEATHER GUYS, I JUST WISH THEY WOULD CUT OUT ALL THE CRAP, THE HYPE, THE SCARE TACTICS, AND THE WEATHER SHOW AT KFOR. I DONT KNOW WHO BOB IS, BUT KEVIN, HE ALL BUT ADMITS WHAT I SAID. THEY NEED TO QUIT SHOWBOATING, GET THE WORD OUT AND BE DONE WITH IT – AND MAINLY, JUST QUIT TRYING TO ONE UYP THE OTHER WITH THE HELICOPTERS AND DAVID PAYNE’S 300 TORNADOES RAINED WRAPPED CRAP. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I CHANGED MY PERSONAL AND BUSINESS PLANS FRIDAY AND THE WHOLE WEEKEND BECAUSE MM AND HIS SIDEKICK FIRST STATED WE WERE GETTING MAYBE 12″ PLUS IN OKC. 14 PEOPLE DIDN’T WORK FOR THREE DAYS, AND FRANKLY, THEY ARE PISSED OFF.
Mr. Hick, who does not appear to be Payne (although Dave ofter does type in all caps), has atleast, some truth’s to his posts. Not sure if he watched OKC TV weather from about 1980 to 1990, but many others did, and if they can recall correctly, there was someone in this market who made lots of folks want to dig a deep hole fast. Really do not want to say much more than that about it.
One more important point to make at this juncture: Oklahoma weather turns shockingly violent VERY quickly, always has, always will. The biggest challenge we have in weather is to make sure the public CLEARLY gets our message.
Not suprised Mr. Hicks feels the way he does, at least about the scare part.
Getting the message out is perhaps our biggest challenge, It has to be direct and urgent.
BOTTOM LINE IS, FOLKS, ITS TIME TO CUT OUT THE CRAP. LEAVE THE HELICOPTERS AT HOME. MOST PEOPLE IN THEIR CARS TRAVELING THE FREEWAYS DONT HAVE TELEVISION IN THEIR CARS TO GET YOUR INFO WHEN THE TORNADOES CROSS 135. YOU GUYS DO OFFER A SERVICE AND DO A GREAT JOB TO HELP US ALL. ITS TIME TO CUT OUT THE OVERKILL. ITS YOUR WEATHER OFFICES I BUILT, I PERSONALLY TORE DOWN THE OLD WEATHER ROOM WHEN JIM WILIAMS WAS AROUND, SAW CUT THE MASONRY WALLS, AND INSTALLED THE BEAMS ABOVE ALL OF YOU. WORKED WITH MY CREW AND THE GUYS FROM CA AND PUT TOGETHER ALL THE SETS, BACK WITH OLE KATS. REMEMBER HIM? PLEASE, DO US ALL A FAVOR, FIGURE OUT SOME WAY TO EQUALIZE THE COMPETITION, CUT OUT THE ONE UPNESS, AND DO A BETTER JOB. YOU REALLY PISS OFF PEOPLE AND THEY TUNE YOU ALL OUT.
KFOR does seem to sensationalize every facet of the weather. I don’t watch them anymore because I get sick of David Payne acting like everytime the wind blows it wipes out an entire town. I (barely) survived the May 3, 1999 tornado and I pay more attention to the weather now, but I get so mad when I see these guys going crazy because they forget that people are relying on them to be 100% truthful in order to know if it is a minor storm or a serious situation that they need be aware of and what to do to protect their lives. I think they use the past disasters to promote and play on the people’s fear of another monster like 3/3/99 in order to keep people watching. I think Gary England and Rick Mitchell are great. They stay pretty level headed and don’t seem to have any of the chasers that like to sensationalize what they see. Mike Morgan needs to take lessons from those two as to how to behave on TV and while he is at it he needs to fire David Payne.
He should fire Payne? Wow, we have some worked up people here. I had no idea so many people were so pissed.
I am 31 and a Republican. Sorry to disappoint your stereotyping ability. I am not concerned with this. I am just responding to some dude’s attempt to make an issue of a non-issue.
You’re the one who should cut the crap. Fact is you worked in construction at a TV station – not in management. Who cares who put the beam in over their head or painted the walls – it matters nothing to this conversation.
Sorry to say, I watch the weather reports – you don’t piss me off when you use a helicopter. Is there drama involved of course. But at the end of the day they are there to save lives – not to hold hands with one another and make sure some old construction guy likes their service.
SEE THAT MIKE? SEE WHAT JEFF SAYS AT 1156? DO YOU KNOW THERE ARE THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE LIKE HIM AND I IN OKC AND THE METRO AREA, NOT TO MENTION AROUND THE STATE, THAT FEEL THE SAME WAY. I’VE ALWAYS BEEN PERSONALLY CLOSE TO KFOR, FOR LOTSA REASONS. FAMILY, PREVIOUS OWNERS, LOL, RONNIE KAYE AND THE SCENE, NOT TO MENTION ALL THE WORK IVE DONE THERE. I HAVE TUNED YOU ALL OUT AS WELL. I CAN’T STAND BRIAN WILLIAMS AND DON’T WATCH NBC NIGHTLY NEWS ANYMORE. SAME CRAP. HE STATES, HIS JOB IS TO INTERPRET THE NEWS. HIS JOB IS TO REPORT, R E P O R T, THE NEWS. IT’S OUR JOB TO WATCH AND INTERPRET THE NEWS AND WEATHER FOR OURSELVES. ALL OF YOU AT ALL LEVELS TREAT US LIKE COMPLETE SCATHING IDIOTS. MOST OF US KNOW WHEN TO PUT COATS ON AND WEAR GLOVES, MAYBE TAKE AN UMBRELLA, HOW TO WINTERIZE OUR CARS, AND WHEN THE SIRENS GO OFF, GET TO SOME SAFETY. WE KNOW HOW TO DRESS OUR KIDS, FEED THEM, AND GET THEM TO THEIR DESTINATIONS SAFELY AS POSSIBLE. WE KNOW TO GET UP A LITTLE EARLY AND DRIVE A LITTLE SLOWER ON ICY DAYS. WISE UP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. GET RID OF YOUR SIDEKICK. HEL HE NOT ONLY PUTS HIS LIFE IN DANGER AS HE STORM CHASES LIKE A CRAZY MAN, HE PUTS OTHER PEOPLES LIVES IN DANGER WHILE HE PLAYS “STORM CHASE RAMBO” OR HIS “WEATHER SHOW” WHATEVER THE HELL THAT IS. WISE UP. YOU AND DAVID ARE MAKING COMPLETE FOOLS OUT OF YOURSELVES, KFOR, AND THE OTHER CHANNELS AS WELL TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH YOU.
LOL, I AM AN OLE CONSTRUCTION GUY, I AM IN MANAGEMENT, HAVE BEEN SINCE 1970, AND YOU DIDNT SAY WHO YOU VOTED FOR KEVIN?
AND AGAIN, IM NOT PICKING ON ANY OF THEM, KEV. THEY ARE ALL GREAT. IM GLAD KFOR HAS ONE PERSON THAT LIKES TO WATCH AND LISTEN TO “PAYNE” AS MIKE MORGAN CALLS HIM, DRIVING AROUND AND ACTING LIKE A BANTY ROOSTER, UNDER EVERY STORM CLOUD IN OKLAHOMA, COUNTING THE TORNADOES. HE’S CERTAINLY GOOD AT THAT. IF WOODY GUTHRIE WAS STILL ALIVE, IM SURE HE’D WRITE A FOLK SONG ‘BOUT OLE PAYNE. I JUST THINK IN TIMES OF DANGER TO LIVES, COOL HEADS SHOULD PREVAIL. CHECK OUT CHANNEL 9 SOMETIME AND LISTEN AND WATCH GARY AND HIS BUNCH AND OR RICK AND HIS GUYS ON 5. YOU NEVER HEAR THEM BEING ANYTHING BUT PROFESSIONAL WITH COOL HEADS, AND “OH MY GODS” FROM THEIR STORM CHASERS. MAYBE YOU’LL LEARN TO APPRECIATE COOL HEADS AND THINKING WHEN THE NEXT ONE IS BEARING DOWN ON YOUR HOUSE. EH?
AND DONT TAKE THIS PERSONALLY, IM NOT PICKING ON YOU SO QUIT PICKING ON ME. MAYBE YOU COULD APPLY FOR DAVID’S JOB AT CHANNEL 4.
It’s all good.
I’ve been a Gary fan for years and years. He is a true icon in the industry. All in all, Oklahoma City is blessed to have such great weathermen on a news station level.
Mr. Hick,
Channel 4 did not pay me one red cent while I completed my contract at 5 and never paid me one red cent after that, except for my salary upon beginning work at 4.
LOL, IT DOESNT MATTER MIKE. START TAKING SOME SURVEYS OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC CITYWIDE AND STATEWIDE AND FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF ABOUT YOUR SENSATIONALIZATION. WE HAVE MET IN PERSON SEVERAL YEARS BACK AND LAUGHED ABOUT IT. I AM TALKING AS JOHN Q PUBLIC HERE AND I DONT THINK WE CARE ABOUT THE WIND SHEAR OR HOW MANY TORNADOES DAVID CAN SPOT AT ONE TIME IN ONE CLOUD IN THE RAIN, IN THE COUNTRY IN LINCOLN COUNTY,MAYBE. YOURE A GREAT AND SINCERE GUY. NOT EVERYONE IN YOUR TEAM HAS THE SAME SINCERITY. YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE THE BIGGEST HAIL OR SNOW DRIFT REPORT ON TV. NOT EVERY OTHER NEWS STORY HAS TO BE BREAKING NEWS. YOU SEEM TO SPEND MORE TIME THE NEXT DAY TRYING TO PROVE HOW RIGHT YOU GUYS AT 4 ARE OVER THE OTHER GUYS. HELL GIVE US THE GOODS ONCE AND TALK ABOUT YOUR KIDS, LOL. THAT’S MUCH BETTER NEWS. SINCE WE ALL HAVE TO GO DIGITAL, THOSE WHO WANT YOU 24 7 CAN SIMPLY CLICK OVER TO 4-2. ANYWAY, I JUST WANTED TO AD MY TWO CENTS DURING A BREAK, NOT WRITE A DISSERTATION. KEEP UP YOUR WONDERFUL WORK, QUIT COMPETING AND PERHAPS START WORKING WITH THE OTHER GUYS ON SERIOUS BAD WEATHER DAYS, AND FIND SOME OTHER WAY TO DUKE IT OUT FOR RATINGS. I LOVES YA ANYWAY. IM JUS D A HICK, FRUM SOMWHAR IN OKIEHOMIE, COTTIN PICKER TYPE. YUP YUP. I DONT NO NUTTIN.
Steve, This thread has gone in the can.
I need to go, otherwise I will be put into a position of defending David’s tornado tracking (which does not need defense, May 3rd etal proves that), my “somehow shady and erroneous double salary” move from 5 to 4, and trying to bob and weave around comments on who is better than who. It’s all great soap stuff, but I will do without.
For some reason this is all making me very uncomfortable… regular readers, please weigh in. Are we staying in bounds here? I believe this truly is an issue to be discussed, and that it very much involves downtown business.
Maybe it’s just the use of caps that’s throwing me…
Kevin be careful, D(_ _ b) A(_ s) Hick may be leading you along a road that has a toronado at the end of it. I personnally have had an opportunity to view Jim Williams, Kevin Foreman, Gary England, Mike Morgan, Jim Giles, Travis
Meyer, Rick Mitchell, David Payne, …(i would have said Lola Hall but that ages me), and i think that their main goal is to keep the public informed of Oklahoma’s multidemensional weather and keep everyone safe. Yes their channels owners, managers, producers and sale managers drive their sensasionalism for the most part.
Do i like to watch the weather during an important game, reality show, or my childs cartoons? Not most of the time, but if it means we are aware of dangerous storms that are in out area or that save people lives, i guess we will put up with them. But to all who are reading this blog, including you Mike, be reasonable about the time spent on storms that are obviously NOT threatening and keep it under control. This past weekend, there was a lot of everyone’s money spent preparing for something that didn’t happen, at least locally.
My sister-in-law calls in the “Walmart Conspiracy”, you sure got everyone to make trips to the grocery and supplies store. Maybe we should check all the names of the owners groups?
IM SORRY IF I HAVE OFFENDED ANYONE FOLKS. I SINCERELY APOLOGISE TO ALL OF YOU. I ALSO LIVED THROUGH THE 5/99 BIG ONES, HUNKERED DOWN, AND SEVERAL OVER THE YEARS THAT HAVE COME ACROSS LAKE HEFNER. THE ONLY REASON I USE CAPS IS I AM LEGALLY BLIND AND CANT SEE SMALL PRINT. I JUST THINK THE WEATHER GUYS COULD DO A BETTER JOB AND IF 4 WOULD TONE IT DOWN, SO WOULD THE OTHERS. IT SEEMS THERE ARE AT LEAST MAYBE 2 OR 3 OTHER CITIZENS OF THIS GRATE STATE THAT AGREE AT LEAST WITH PART OF WHAT I SAY. AT LEAST I WON’T DIE ALONE. I HOPE ALL OF YOU HAVE A GRATE DAY, AND THAT WE HAVE WONDERFUL WEATHER ALL YEAR LONG. I DO ENJOY THE STORYS ABOUT THEIR PERSONAL LIVES. HI O SILVER. I REMEMBER LOLA HALL. WOW, NOW SHE’S GETTIN OLD.
You guys are making me homesick. We moved to Dallas in 96 for work reasons… You want sensationalism and theatrics? Spend a weekend down here when there are a couple of clouds in the sky. Theatrics: Tune in to all channels and watch the road crews reach over and hold up a handful of BB sized hailstones. In all honesty, we will fire up Twister just so we can watch Gary for old times sake. We miss “It’s Friday Night in the Big Town” and can’t wait to get home. The grass isn’t always greener.
D.A., it might help you if when you post to let people know you have to use all caps due to eyesight. Otherwise people assume the worst.
Sidenote: people might assume that there is some sort of hostile rivalry between competitors at tv stations, at The Oklahoman, KTOK and KOKC, etc. That’s not the case.
There are veteran journalists at KFOR who I consider friends – people I respect. Same goes for KWTV (most notably Alex and Gan) and at KOCO (Richard – I never could beat you to a crime scene!).
So please do not think this is a bashing between print and tv. And newcomers especially, please keep in mind as we discuss and debate all this that Mike is a guy with a family at home – so let’s stay appropriate, ok?
Thanks – Steve
What is a shame here is that these are some good questions, particularly the one about adding drama and excitement. There is a fine line between helping people and scaring people, and I believe it is sometimes crossed by certain meteorologists in our town, and I’m not certain why. The problem is, if you cry wolf enough, people will stop listening, and that is when people get hurt. I think the key is conveying the possibilities without making it seem like armageddon every time. I always check http://www.weather.gov (Nat’l Weather Svc.) in addition to what the TV people say. It gives a good balance and allows me to have a better idea of what may (or may not) be coming. The weather should not be used as a tool to grab ratings – ever.
…nice weather today, huh?
Try living for a few years someplace that doesn’t even have TV (yes, there are some left), and you’ll understand what a mountain vs. mole-hill topic this is…
Ya’ll behave now!
I own a large retail business downtown and we always feel the effects of the local weather forecasts. I understand the need for informing people, however, the icey forecast for Friday and Saturday really killed our sales this past weekend. Given the current economic environment, we depend on our weekends to generate sufficient income to make payroll and pay our rent. This past weekend has made that task very difficult this week all because we had a little drizzle/mist on Friday night. Also, since when is snow something to freak out over? People to our North would laugh at us for closing all schools and businesses for fear of 3 inches of snow.
Wow, what an energized thread of comments. Bottom line is, that local broadcasters have this oath to “serve the public interest” in order to retain their licenses.
Each station with a Weather Department does try to present their forecasts in a certain way. KFOR will have a different style than that of KOCO, or KWTV, or KSBI, etc.. Most meteorologists know each other in the market, and each person should be very familiar with their own station’s equipment.
No meteorologist in this or any other market will get it right 100% of the time, no matter how much RAM is in their Doppler.
Here may be a great contest, however.
Take 100 days of the calendar (you pick when), and compare the predictions of each local meterorologist (5p, 6p, or 9-10p), plus The NWS, and you might even throw in Accuweather. Record their forecast for tomorrow (low, high, wind speed avg, probability of precipitation, and the storms’ severity. Compare the predictions with what actually happens.
Finally, at the end of those 100 days, run those numbers to get a cumulative score of each one’s accuracy.
That should tell us who the best is/are.
THE BEST WEATHER REPORTING COMES FROM THOSE WITH COMMON SENSE AND THOSE WHO CAN LOOK OUT THEIR OWN WINDOWS AND INTERPRET THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUNNY, CLOUDY, RAIN, DRY, SNOW, ICE, ETC. THE WAY HUMAN BEINGS DID IT LONG BEFORE WE EVER HAD TELEVISION AND RADIO.
This is fun stuff. Glad to be part of the discussion.
Props to Mike for responding to some of this nonsense.
I think the biggest problem is that most people do not know enough about the weather and forecasting. There is not a computer model available that can pin point snow or rain amounts to the nearest quarter section. If the model can get within 50 miles, it is accurate.
After seeing the amounts of snow in NW Oklahoma, it looks like, to me, that the forecast for the snow storm was actually accurate. The only thing that seems to be “missed” was how close to OKC the heavy snow would be. I did not see the forecast of a “significant icing event”. I did see that the NWS did, on Friday, show that icing could be possible ahead of the snow. Wheather icing is significant or not depends on two critical items: The amount of ice and the wind. A quarter of an ince of ice is very significant if you have a wind of 40-50 mph.
No where did I see anyone closing schools for 3 inches of snow. The only schools that I remember closing were located in NW Oklahoma where snow was predicted to be 10″-12″. (I think OCU did decide to close early on Friday.)
Any weather forecast can only predict what could happen. There are so many small variables that can change a forecast in a matter of hours and the data the various models use is only collected once or twice a day.
If people stayed home in OKC on Friday it was more likely because of the weather not the forecast. Friday night’s weather was drizzle with strong wind and a freezing line on the west side of the metro area. That was enough to keep me home.
I have a couple of dates for some of the idiots posting here.
May 3, 1999
June 13, 1998
May 8, 1986
On each of these date one of my direct family members had their lives likely saved by watching these “salesmen” on local t.v. My mother lost her home, my future wife and daughter had their home damaged and my best freind and his wife and kids escaped a home that was utterly wiped from the earth. But all were given ample time to prepare.
I don’t like having my t.v. interrupted and I think there is some competition and drama, but listen up people… WEATHER IS UNPREDICTABLE…..
I was in South Padre Island this year in July when they all said Dolly was going to come ashore as a class 1 hurricane and at 1am it was at 10am it was a class 4 and I watched as it pulled our condos apart.
If I get to choose I would prefer the men and women doing the weather err on the side of too much rather than too little.
I only watch CH 4 & Ch 9 – don’t like anyone on CH 5.
I think they are all a bunch of idiots on 5. Yes, sometime
they do get carried away with their forecast but it’s like
I keep reminding my husband – it may not be directly affecting
the area where we live but they are reporting on their
viewing area. Keep up the good job 4 & 9.
For Peter’s comment (2 above, maybe more by the time I get done). Good job. I think all these guys do an excellent job when they’re covering tornadoes that are ONNNNNNNN THE GROUND, okay??? I think almost anybody here can agree with that. Coverage of a tornado is very important. Coverage of a statewide snowstorm that may or may have not hit, yet businesses being closed for a storm that may or may not have hit is completely different. Yes there are a lot more variables involved with spring winter storm systems but it’s a lot easier to pinpoint a tornado then it is a snow storm cell (if that’s what you want to call it). And beyond further review, I doubt it’s gonna ‘tornader’ during a snow storm…
Brick, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. You should find yourself a safehouse or a relative close by. Lay low for a while because you’re probably wanted for murder.
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Slow news day?