More Silly Meteorology Stories

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My gosh, how many of these stories are going to be written this month? This one accuses meteorologists of lying in their forecasts.

I can't speak for The Weather Channel, but I can tell you that AccuWeather, our founder Dr. Joel Myers, and every employee of the company is passionate about providing the most accurate forecast possible. We spend a tremendous amount of money (i.e., purchasing the output of the European model) to achieve that goal. Never once -- not once -- in the eight years I have been part of AccuWeather has anyone ever suggested hyping a weather situation.

This blog and Mike Smith Enterprises is also dedicated to providing the most accurate science and information possible without regard to politics or other considerations.

And, New York's Governor Cuomo can't seem to get his story straight. At first, he lied (yes, lied) about the Buffalo office of the National Weather Service not forecasting the blizzard. They did and they did a great job. Then, he apologized sort of. Now, he is back to saying New York needs it own weather service because the NWS's forecasts were somehow inadequate.

Let me see if I can piece together what is really going on. The governor seems to want a "mesonetwork" which is a state-run set of weather stations that supplements the federal network. Oklahoma was the first state to have one. Below is a map of the locations of their mesonetwork stations with temperatures posted (3pm Saturday afternoon).
Add the federal stations and one has a useful, dense network of meteorological sensors. I believe well-mainted mesonetworks can provide data that leads to more accurate forecasts.

However, weather stations do not make forecasts. That requires people, computers, computer models, etc., etc. It appears Gov. Cuomo wants to also create a state-run meteorological service. That would be a complete waste of money. If the governor feels he needs services over and above those provided by the National Weather Service, AccuWeather would be a superb choice and it would be far less expensive for taxpayers than starting their own service. And, yes, AccuWeather did an absolutely superb job with the Buffalo blizzard. I'm pleased to report we have received gratifying feedback from a large number of Upstate New York clients.

One thing we know in meteorology: You can't teach experience. AccuWeather has been around for more than a half-century with many meteorologists with decades of experience.

Mesonet: Yes.
NY state-run weather service: Wasteful idea.

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