Meteorologist> Why is meteorology a legitimate profession?

Question

The weather man is rarely correct, why do people actually listen to them? Think about it they are paid really well to guess/speculate...

Answer 1

Yes, we do make educated guesses, but If there were no Meteorologists,  who will…

-Warn farmers to protect their crops of a killing hard freeze?

-Advise a pilot of dense fog developing at an airport?

-Tell campers to head for high grounds due to flash flooding from a  distant heavy rain storm?

-Warn communities and emergency officials of an approaching tornadic severe thunderstorms?

-Forecast the wind conditions near a large wild fire so fire fighters can plan their attack on a fire in a safe manner in order to save homes and communities?

-Inform truckers of weather conditions ahead so they can plan an alternate safe route and get their cargo safely to their destination?

-Tell school officials of a strong winter storm expected in 12 to 24 hours so the can decide on whether to close the schools to keep the kids safe at home?

-Provide forecast wind conditions so officials can determine where dangerous fumes will likely go after a toxic chemical release?

-Warn boaters and other of  strong storm that has produce large swells and waves heading toward the coast so they can take proper action to protect their boat, crew, and/or cargo?

-Give advance notice so construction workers will know of an approaching thunderstorms with numerous cloud-to-ground lightning?

-Issue an Red Flag Warnings so people will know to be extremely careful with fire due to the high fire danger for that day?

-Warn drivers of icy conditions by commute time?

-Issue high wind warnings so people can take action to prevent loss and costly property damage?

-Provide weather conditions and climate information to help police detectives solve a crime?

-Provide a listening ear so the public can contact us to advise us of a developing and dangerous situation that then we can pass on this information to the public at large?

These are just a few of our responsibilities that meteorologists have.  Forecasting the daily weather conditions for the public are just part of what we do.  We must be doing something right or we would not have been given these and many other responsibilities from our users which includes the general public, the different government agencies, and the leaders of the corporate world.  Many of whom will demand and/or depend on us on for this kind of information on a daily basis.

We may not be able to get the weather forecast exactly right for your needs all the time, but we provide enough good information to help the many others who depend on us and at the same time we may help save a life to two from time to time.

Answer 2

Meteorologists are correct a lot more than you think, you just don't pay attention when they get it right.  Forecasting has actually improved dramatically in the last 15 years and forecasts of 3 days in advance or less are usually quite accurate.  What they do is actually very important, and people's lives depend on it.

Answer 3

Well even if he does guess or not the weather still can be predicted. Maybe not weeks or a month at a time but like maybe a couple days ahead it can be predicted. I hear its a very hard profession and alot of work goes into it.

Answer 4

ultimately there is a lot of things to keep track of and account for, because of this predicting the weather usually is only accurate at 48 hours ahead.