Reporting the Weather

I wish I were a TV weatherman.

 

I know that they must have some kind of credentials to get the job other than a large and varied wardrobe, bubbly personality and a penchant for being incorrect. We have three local TV stations in the city and of course we also get 24 hour a day, 365 days a year weather from the Weather Channel. That is at least ten meteorologists all told and they are all wrong about fifty percent of the time. I could do that!

 

Well, I don’t have the wardrobe and I wouldn’t describe my personality as bubbly. But I am wrong more often than I am right. Mind you, when it comes to the weather I have a sure fire method of making predictions…I look out a window! Is that so innovative that no one else seems to be able to do it? How often has a weather person been talking about warm and sunny when it is cloudy with rain? Too often!

A few years ago there was a web based news show that told the news of the day and the weather from around the country. I never minded if the weather gal was wrong. The show was called The Naked News and a woman would come on stage and report the news as she took her clothing off. I knew that I was getting old when I got caught up in the news story and didn’t pay attention to the newscaster. I thought the show had been cancelled long ago, but I just checked and it is still being produced. It is a subscription program which is why I thought it was no longer on. No way would I pay for news and weather, naked or otherwise.

 

For most of my working life I was outside for a good portion of the day and every day before I went out to start delivering the mail I would open a door and step outside. This allowed me to tell how cold it was, how wet it was and how windy it was. By knowing these things I could select the appropriate clothing to wear or at least take with me. I even had emergency warm, waterproof clothing in a relay box in case the weather happened to change. The only time I was surprised by the weather is when I listened to the radio weather guy or someone at work who knew even less than the weather guys.

We have an all news radio station in town that gives you a traffic and weather update every ten minutes. The radio weather guy is the same one that is the Channel Three TV weatherman. He predicts the daily temperature to within three degrees each way or the station pays out a minimum of $660. The cash payout goes up $25 dollars every day that David is right. Well, it did but I think they have changed things. He was rarely wrong, but there was money on the line which is a good incentive to be right. I think the radio weather forecasts are more accurate because people call in if they are wrong and they can change the next time they open their mouths.

 

I was going to say that the only other job where you can be wrong and suffer no repercussions is politics. However, I am feeling pretty good tonight and talking about politics would just piss me off.