June 14, 2011

When I opened my blinds this morning, I was greeted by this lovely sight.  We all know how much I love it when I can't see the Capitol Building due to the ridiculous amount of fog and humidity.  I can't say I was surprised to see this, though, because the forecast called for a cloudy day.  It was a little chilly when I left for class, but I did notice that it was at least a little warmer than yesterday.

Since the forecast predicted nothing but clouds all day, I shouldn't have been surprised when the sky cleared and the sun came out shortly after my class.  After all, the forecast has been consistently WRONG recently.  I guess what shocked me was the fact that, for once, the weather was wrong in our favor.  Rather than taking an unexpected turn for the worse, the weather improved.  Other than being extremely humid and hot for about an hour when the clouds were first breaking, it ended up being a really nice day.

I know it seems like I'm too hard on the National Weather Service in some of my posts, but I really don't feel that they deserve much mercy.  I know predicting the future is rather difficult, but with all of the fancy weather models and technology that we have now, is it too much to ask for to get an accurate forecast for the next day (or even the next 12 hours)?  I think it's rather pointless to even attempt a 7-Day forecast, especially in Nebraska, but you'd think that the morning weather forecast would have a shot at being correct most days.  How is anyone supposed to plan ahead when the forecast is never right?  Even something as simple as dressing appropriately or packing an umbrella requires an accurate forecast.  There's nothing like getting caught in the rain when there was supposedly a 0% chance of precipitation.

All I would like is a little consistency from the NWS.  I know that their jobs are hard, but it would be fantastic if they could improve their accuracy a little bit.  It would also be wonderful if they stopped changing the forecast in the middle of the day like they're fooling anyone.  Most people are not as weather-obsessed as I am, so they listen to the weather at night or in the morning and assume that it's correct.  If the nightly/early morning forecast is incorrect, it's not going to save face to change it later.  By then, everyone knows you were wrong and they're already angry!

Okay, enough ranting for tonight.  I'm back to work behind a desk, and it's been pretty steady out here since six.  Only about two more hours and I get to go to bed.  I just hope it doesn't storm on me when I have to leave.  There are some thunderstorm warnings west of Lincoln, so my concerns are valid...  Anyway, goodnight and wish me luck as I leave here tonight!  I may have some interesting stories to tell tomorrow depending on how it goes...