Talkin' about Weather

A summer day. 7/23/2023 dwm photo

  There's a saying, "if you can't do anything about the weather, talk about it." That should be the motto of meteorologists everywhere.

 When we lived in west-central Wisconsin for ten years, there was a local TV weatherman who without fail, would include at least a 10% chance of rain in his forecast, just in case.

 More than forty years ago, I took a weather class at Drake because I was a broadcast news major. At the time it was common for TV stations to have reporters do the weather on weekends. 

  I never did the weather during my time in television news, but I did a lot of weather stories. It's safe to say we know a lot more about weather a lot sooner than we once did.

It's World Meteorological Day, a time to celebrate the World Meteorological Organization that collects data from around the world so we can better understand weather and its impact.

The W.M.O. was formed in 1873 to exchange weather information between countries. While weather can change dramatically from day to day, and sometimes minute to minute, it's long-term trends that provide information about how our climate changes over time.

Another area where that information pays off is with research into natural disasters to better determine when conditions become dangerous.

It's easy to joke about weather forecasts that miss the mark, but I appreciate the men and women in the field who are more accurately predicting weather trends as much as several weeks out.. Those predictions look at trends for temperatures and precipitation in general, as the days get closer so does it's accuracy.

The development I'm waiting for is being able to order your weather a week in advance so you can always be confident the picnic won't be rained out.

Growing up, our family claimed to have some ability along those lines. I remember a day when a friend came along on a family picnic. It was raining when we loaded up the car, which surprised my friend that we were going, but as we got closer to the state park, the clouds cleared and we enjoyed sunshine for the picnic and hike.