The Weatherman

In nearly every profession, folks are held to some level of accountability. The business of meteorology does not subscribe to the idea of accountability. If a businessman doesn't deliver on his word, he would be expected to lose business. If a truck driver missed his delivery date by a day and a half, he'd have some seriously irritated customers waiting for him when he finally rolled in. This makes sense, right?

Then why do we let the weatherman go around making "educated guesses" about what mother nature will be bringing us in the next seven to ten days? The weather report is a great big hoax. We all know it, but we accept these inaccurate forecasts as readily as we accept our paychecks. I say it's time for change. Get rid of the whole effing idea of "Meteorology".

The only thing weather forecasts bring us are sunshine graphics and goofy guys named Johnny Mountain or A.J. Foxx who claim to be experts on the science that is weather. And don't get me started on Jillian Barberie (http://www.fox11.com/sections/newsteam/barberie.asp). There's no way she can predict the weather any better than the cat.

I cannot count the number of times I've been deceived by the weather report. Can't we get these frauds to admit they're just taking shots in the dark about what the clouds hold in store for us? I have a vested interest in the potential for inclement weather because I commute on a motorcycle. If there's a chance of rain, I have to wear snowboard pants, a rain jacket, and a different pair of shoes (plus socks) so that I can be dry by the time I get to where I'm going.

Take Wednesday for example. I checked the weather report around 7:45am. It said that there would be no rain at all until midday Thursday. Well, I assumed that meant I'd be safe to go to work without packing my rain gear. Turns out, it started raining nine hours after I checked the weather report. It wasn't supposed to start raining for 30 hours...30 HOURS!!! NOT NINE!!! That's a huge difference. Obviously, I came home riding my motorcycle on the freeway in the rain without the necessary gear to keep me dry.

As I'm typing this, I just started to hear the patter of rain on my window...awesome. At least the weatherman called it this time. WHAT ABOUT WEDNESDAY YOU LYING PILE OF GARBAGE?!?! WHERE WERE YOU THEN, HUH?!

In this age of technology and scientific breakthroughs, is it too much to ask that we have an accurate way to predict the weather? I don't think so. What good is science if we can't even predict the weather a few days in advance?