Ah! The term, ""TV weather people" was somewhat amorphous, as we have actual meteorologists doing our forecasts here, like Louis mentioned; "bimbage" would've been a tad more precise. :-)
Lin
On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 4:30 PM, newnethboy <kef413@gmail.com> wrote:
Pardon, Lin, but I don't understand what you're disagreeing with.
You are clearly agreeing with Kim's original remarks about how forecasting
is different/difficult here. But you seem to be focusing on the forecasters
and how they do their jobs, whereas my comments concerned the TV people (the
"bimbage").
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lin Kerns" <linkerns@gmail.com>
To: <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2011 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: [californiadisasters] Re: Admin Read: Stop Shooting the
Messenger
LinDisagree on the weather folks in the east. After living most of my life in
the midwest/south and then spending 5 years in SoCal, my weather geekiness
zoned in on one very differing factor in weather prediction. That factor was
mentioned briefly by Kim in his initial email on the subject--that weather
systems entering the coastal ranges are very hard to predict, thanks to the
topography. Storm systems are like fires in that no two are alike; and add
into the mix the terrain, which is like no other part of the US and you've
got a squirming tiger that appears to have a mind of its own. Not only do
you have orographic lifting, which is like a rebound effect with the
precipitation, but you have a system interacting with the jetstream and any
pressure systems in the area that cannot discern the gentle rise of land.
Once that system crosses the Rockies, the weather becomes easier to predict
based upon any number of interactions that occur. For example, a system
moves into the midwest and encounters Gulf moisture, but even the added mass
of contributing factors does not hinder good forecasting. Our weather
centers have become very efficient over the years, thanks to technology and
those predictable, well understood interactions that occur and have occurred
for hundreds of years. Weather prediction in the rest of the country is
almost mathematical. I would say we are at the 80% point on accuracy, which
is far better than what it was when I was a kid.
When I first moved to CA, I was hard on the forecasters, too, but once I
understood the random mix of elements involved, I became more appreciative.
Give 'em a break--just ignore the brash tv front people who bounce across
the screen, all Hollywood, and remember the real work of those hard working
meteorologists behind the scenes.
On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 3:13 AM, newnethboy <kef413@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Two reactions:
>
> 1. I know from my (not extremely current) exposure that the TV weather
> people in the East are not fundamentally different, but even so, here in
> CA,
> the weather is such, and the people are such, that the levels of hype here
> are much greater than elsewhere. I mean, seriously, if we have a half-inch
> of rain, all the TV stations have "Live Storm Watch" coverage at least on
> par with the coverage your lot give to a true blizzard.
>
> If we get snow into the populated areas Saturday, I can pretty much
> guarantee we'll have live continuing, pre-emptive news coverage. (But of
> course, that hasn't happened since 1949, so it really would be news.)
>
> 2. NWS does, in fact, provide "spot forecasts" when/where needed, e.g. for
> commanders of major fires. (I don't know the circumstances under which
that
> sort of service can be obtained.)
>
> Via the Web, I can get a "pinpoint forecast" which is allegedly for about
a
> one-mile square around the coordinates I enter. (The actual present
> readings, though, are from about 15 miles away in my case.)
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Daithi" <dboconnor1@earthlink.net>
Penguin News Today <http://penguinnewstoday.blogspot.com/>> To: <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, February 25, 2011 10:08 PM
> Subject: [californiadisasters] Re: Admin Read: Stop Shooting the Messenger
>
> Kim:
>
> I will fully agree about not shooting the messenger. NWS does the best
they
> can with the available data and usually their best is very good but
weather
> is still not an exact science.
>
> TV weather people sometimes do seem to get a bit overexcited about a storm
> as a big story.
>
> As to the private weather services I was a EMA director for 27 years and
my
> city subscribed to a private weather service. What was the benefit to us?
> NWS provides forecast for larger general areas so has larger ranges for
> arrival times of the storm and precipitation e.g. "The storm will reach
> eastern Massachusetts between 4pm and 10pm and bring 6 to 12 inches of new
> snow"
>
> Government agencies may have DPW workers who work 7 to 3 every day. We
need
> to know whether to send people home and have them come back at 10 or keep
> them on duty paying overtime the whole time. If you send them home they
> might not get back through the snow. Keep 200 truck drivers on overtime
> with no snow and you have spent a lot of money and you don't need them
> until
> an hour before the storm to start your salt laydown. The private services
> can localize more and provide narrower windows for storm start, better
> estimates of accumulation and precipitation rate. I know my DPW people
> thought the private service was money well spent to save the city money.
>
> Funny story about forecast errors. Several years ago I was at a NWS
> training session for EMA directors from coastal Massachusetts. A big
> t-storm arrived just before the start time and then the head warning
> meteorologist for the region arrived soaked to the skin, no rainjacket, no
> umbrella. He arrived laughing about himself getting caught in the rain and
> made the point about not being perfect.
>
> --- In californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com, Kim Noyes <kimnoyes@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Achtung Gruppe!
> >
> > This has been on my mind for awhile and I have been waiting for the
right
> > time to speak and the right words to share.
> >
> > There has been a lot of talk here on this list for some time about SoCal
> > weather forecasts that don't pan out and disparaging remarks about the
> > performance of the forecasters.
> >
> > The attitude seems to be that the forecasters are incompetent fools who
> > failed at their otherwise easy jobs.
> >
> > These comments seem to be based upon the false assumption that weather
> > forecasting is easy and is an exact science if in the hands of competent
> > forecasters.
> >
> > This could not be further from the truth.
> >
> > Weather forecasting will always be suffused with a significant degree of
> > uncertainty.
> >
> > More so in a region bordered by ocean to the west from whence the
weather
> > comes and upon which there are few weather reporting stations which are
> > essential to accurate weather forecasts.
> >
> > In fact, west of our coastline the only weather reporting stations are
on
> > buoys and weather reports from ships.
> >
> > Our weather forecasters are for the most part intelligent and
> well-educated
> > people doing the very best they can with what they have to work.
> >
> > Remember, too, that they have to hedge their bets and error on the side
> of
> > caution and if in doubt over-forecast as opposed to under-forecast.
> >
> > Nobody gets hurt from being overly alarmed and overly cautious about the
> > weather but they certainly can be harmed from being inadequately warned
> and
> > under-prepared.
> >
> > It is a fact of nature that the transverse ranges of Southern California
> are
> > not only a geographical boundary but seem to function as a sort of
> > meteorological boundary as well.
> >
> > Weak to marginal storms coming from the north seem to not hold their own
> > south of this east-west trend of mountains which are the metaphoric
> > "crumpled up fender" of the Pacific Plate colliding with the North
> American
> > Plate at the Big Bend in the San Andreas Fault Zone.
> >
> > Only the more vigorous storms coming from the north or storms coming
more
> > from the west or southwest (in other words, subtropical moisture) seem
to
> > make it to Southern California to drop significant rain.
> >
> > While it is true that not a few LA TV market news outlets employ
> "bimbage"
> > to read the weather as "eye candy" to attract the age 18-36 male
> > demographic, even these silicone-implanted talking heads are reading
> > forecasts created elsewhere by professional weather-forecasting agencies
> > staffed by real weather forecasters.
> >
> > The one fault with the current system that I find is that often these
> > private weather agencies such as The Weather Channel, in contrast to
> NOAA's
> > National Weather Service, are based outside the local area and lack a
> long
> > experience with the nuances and complexities of our local weather.
> >
> > I would trust a forecast by NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard way more than
anything
> > from The Weather Channel or any news outlet employing a private weather
> > forecasting agency not based in California to generate their TV weather
> > forecast.
> >
> > I feel we've belabored the issue of weather forecasts that don't pan out
> and
> > how much the local weather forecasters suck to the point of beating a
> dead
> > horse so let's cool it, gang.
> >
> > Acknowledging on the DISCUSSION list something to the effect that "thank
> god
> > that mega-storm didn't pan out or bad things would have happened" is
fine
> > but let's stop cheap-shoting our local weather forecasters.
> >
> > We certainly don't pick on Cal-Tech for not warning us every time there
> is
> a
> > damaging Southern California earthquake not preceded by a Level A alert.
> >
> > Kim Patrick Noyes
> > List-Oberfurher
> >
> > --
> > Check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/
> > Read our blog at http://eclecticarcania.blogspot.com/
> > Visit me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/derkimster
> > Visit my Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/kimusinteruptus
> > We have an Ebay store at http://stores.ebay.com/K-K-Earthwerks
> >
>
>
>
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