What is the point of A Weatherman, seriously?
I’m not sure how much an Anchor Man/Woman earns in a year, but with recent weather happenings I’ve come to be very mystified by why some markets even pay them for service at all . . .
In LA we had Mark Kriskie, (never mind that the guy was “out sick” every few weeks, and returning with a new and OBVIOUS nip/tuck of some sort), but what the heck weather is there to tell about in LA? Seriously? It’s mid 60’s every night, and mid 70’s every day all year ‘round, with the exception of literally two weeks a year when it rains on and off. And the ONE thing we NEED to know about in LA, earthquakes, can’t be foretold.
Florida is another great example. In certain parts of Florida, the forcast for the summer is literally thunderstorms every single day. That’s the forcast, not the actual weather. It’s all because of the nature of the tropical climate which causes “out of the blue” storms, while it’s sunny all day. Well if the weather people can’t tell us the useful information . . . when it’s going to actually rain . . . then why are they there?! In another part of Florida, I’ve been rained on twice now (on my motorcycle), because I checked the weather in the morning and it said sunny all day. Well an everglades native recently explained to me the dynamic of the hot and cold air that meet up and cause random torrential showers that can’t be predicted.
We all KNOW it’s going to be 95 degrees all summer here in Florida . . . what we NEED to know is when it’s going to rain. (Hurricane predictions are great, but that watch is only needed for a very small part of the year).
With dopplers and meteorologists posting all the relevant data on sites like weather.com, why are we paying weather people to be on TV and not tell us anything useful?
Again, I’m mystified. Any insight will be greatly appreciated!
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My only theory is that the weather person is there to fill up the time slot for the news. The TV station in my neck of the woods shows the weather segments more than the news segments. And all the weatherman says is it’s a possibility of this or a possibility of that. Hell, I can tell more than that by the way my hip feels when I try to get out of bed in the morning.
They never tell you anything concrete, just like a politician.:)
I have no clue either. I’d rather have this time on a local channel devoted to international news. If I had to take a guess, it would be that it is an old tradition from pre-internet days that just hasn’t been retired.
It is a relic of the time when the only way to get the weather was on the nightly news. They are no longer needed on every local news show.
With all the online weather channels and several channels on cable devoted to the weather, it is no longer needed on the local evening news every night. But having it on every night keeps the weather man or woman on salary for that one or two times a year when the weather goes to hell and they actually do need quick local information.
In Los Angleles ? I’m surprised at you, you need to know the smog alert level.
It’s better than it was before the polution control systems were widespread in cars but it’s worth paying attention to.
“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it”-Mark Twain
I think you forgot about one important reason for having weather men and women.
Blind people cannot see the weather radar or the upcoming forecasts.
Blind people depend on a weather man or women to tell them the forecast.
They can hear, but they cannot see.
Chaos Theory: fucks you every time.
@everephebe Radios work well for that. Our local all news radio station gives a weather forecast every ten minutes.
Weather on TV is always looking at the past. They always do storm reports that showed how much it rained that day.
In the SF bay area, though, the weather is dramatically different in spaces of a few miles. It does help getting a forecast for where you live.
In an area where really bad weather crops up often, people want to see a familiar person explaining the matter. Lots of older people who don’t have a computer want to see what’s going on. It’s better than hearing the same thing over the radio.
It gives everybody in the community something they can all agree to complain about. “That damned liar on Channel 9!”
Someone to blame if the weather turns shitty?
I’ve never understood the weatherman. I live in Kansas. In the summer it’s hot as hell everyday. Winter, it’s cold and it might snow. And it’s nearly always windy. What else is there to say? A couple weeks ago they predicted thunderstorms everyday and we never saw a damn drop of rain.
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