Itsy Bitsy Spider, My Eye
I’m not interested in continuing to listen as the weather man (or woman) tries to find new flowery ways to tell me it’s going to rain.
What I want to know is this: is the weather shift an isolated incident? Is the freakishly wet summer weather weíre having Mother Natures April Fools joke gone awry for 2005? Is the daily occurrence of afternoon thunderstorms ala Florida (but with no beach to compensate) for this year *and this year only* or are we looking at a radical change in the long term precipitation patterns for my fair city?
THAT is what I want to see on the news. Not a bunch of fancy Doppler pictures. It’s not my job to read those things, I’m a viewer, not a meteorologist.
Bottom line: I want to know if I need to pack my bags and find another town/state/country to call home, because this isn’t what I signed up for.
End of rant. *sigh*
This year has been weird. This summer has been too hot… and too wet… or maybe I am just getting old, and am kicking into my Complaining years… :-)
This morning, I groggily heard the radio man tell me there was a 70% chance of rain. I also groggily heard rain dribbling down my gutters and tapping on my windows. Methinks someone does not understand how “chance” works.
It was explained to me once that a “70% chance of rain” meant that 70% of a specific area would be under rainfall.
I’m not sure if thats true or not.
Seventy, schmeventy…though that explaination is interesting. Anything over 1% is excess.
I’m with you, Will. I’m perfectly capable of looking out my window and dressing accordingly. What I *need* from the bureau of all knowing sky watchers is: long term or short term? Is this the new Seattle? I mean, we have enough Starbucks to make the transition…
We don’t even get this much rain in Florida! If so, it would only last 15 minutes a day.
Dang Lori, now I really feel like we’re getting shafted.
Percentage forcasts mean that it rained on x% of the days with similar conditions.
That may well be what the forecaster intends, but what he or she often says is “X% chance of rain [in the metro area, or whatever].” This information is often presented in the present or future tense, even, suggesting what will happen, not what happened in the past. Forecasters should say what they mean. Unless the purpose of the weatherperson is to report on historical weather trivia and I’ve misunderstood their role all this time (which is not beyond belief, actually, as I often have no idea what the heck is going on). Otherwise, their statement is inaccurate at the time it was made: there is a 100% probability of rain today. I know ’cause it rained. That bet is won.
As comedian Lewis Black says, don’t tell me “It’s 90 degrees outside, but with the heat index, it’s gonna be 103.” Tell me it’s 103, then!
This is actually just me ranting to waste time, I guess, ’cause I actually have nothing against weatherpeople and usually find “weatherman”-related jokes to be a bore. I like rain.
Time: wasted.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the rain and have blogged my baby heart bout about my love of it countless times. I’m also a fan of snow but I left the frozen tundra of Alaska for a reason.
That beats my “I love snow, but left Minnesnowta for Hotlanta” claim! Where were you at in Alaska?
I don’t know, it could be a tie.
I spent 18 years attempting to not to grow up in the lovely sprawling metropolis that is Anchorage. I did my time and escaped using nothing more than a tube of mascara, some duct tape, a spork and a smidge of good old fashioned tenacity.
Where in Minnesota?
I figure, as long as hurricanes are more frequent, we’ll see more frequent rain here in Atlanta. All of this rain is from those storms last month, and it will take a while longer (autumn, probably) to work its way out. And if all else fails, the Greater Atlanta Heat Column ™ sends all this humidity into rainclouds.
It’s actually very funny to hear the folks who’ve moved within the past two years argue weather with folks who’ve lived here for five or six. :-)
I’ve been here 11 years and I still never know what to expect here.
I should have been more specific. rain forecasts are calculated by determining the current and likely future atmospheric conditions. when the forecaster says 70% chance of rain, he or she means that on 70% of past days with similar conditions, it rained. therefore the chance of rain today-tonight-tomorrow is 70%.
it’s straight statistics and probability, not some arbitrary index like heat or wind chill.
it seems like we’ve just got great conditions for rain around here this year and i suspect i brought it with me from florida last summer…
…are we still allowed to blame weather on “El Nino”? :-) This afternoon I will start collecting branches and twigs to start my next project “Noah’s Ark 2005” … I will be taking applications for those of you who wished to be saved.
I think I’m out of luck when it comes to the Ark since I’m one of a kind.
;)
Are you apposed to cloning? :-)