Do you feel that the National Weather Service is losing its credibility?

Question

There was a time when a tornado had to be sighted for there to be a "warning" now they put out warnings for whole counties because they see "doppler rotation" in the sky. Yesterday the NWS was putting out media quotes that predicted "a historical amount of tornadoes were likely for that day" - 6-5-08 It seems that this Federal organization is guilty of sensational reporting and spin at the cost of our tax dollars. I want your honest opinion - short answers fine and Yahoo please don't censor this out like you do so many of my questions.

Answer 1

Well, I think the weather people are going to be on the job no matter if there are tornadoes or if there is merely sunshine. I can't see that it is any sort of waste of money in that sense.

Second, I'd rather be aware of the possibility of a major storm than not. I would bet you do too. It's been an active summer so far. But weather predicting is an inexact science.

Answer 2

I agree that they seem to be a bit over-cautious lately. I don't think it's such a bad thing, though- I'd rather they tell me there's going to be a tornado that doesn't happen, than under report severe weather or report it when it's too late. "Better safe than sorry". The number of deaths from severe weather have also been down in recent years, so maybe it's for the best.