Them weather people?

Answers: a lot, never, less than 24 hours. In March of 1993 our local news forecaster predicted snow with no accumulation. By the end of the next day we had somewhere between 10 and 14 inches of snow depending on where you live. That was the first time I heard it thunder while snowing. Since then he's been known as Ken "no accumulation" Cook. I think he recently retired..... from the same station.

up here at least $70K a year..must be nice to get paid to make mistakes and never punished for them.
They are pretty good at 3 day or less forecasts though, then again with all the super computers doing a zillon calculations, it don't take a 'weather scientist' to say what's on the teleprompter. Most are cute young chicks....hmmmmmmmm

For the most part, especially for severe weather, the TV folks get their info from the National Weather Service(NWS).  And Lou is correct, they have computer generated models that they try to figure which is the most likely choice.  I'm not sure about now, but they were using the European models because the U.S. doesn't have a computer capable of creating very accurate models.  When I left they were talking about putting a new system together for models.

If you want an idea of what they are looking at, watch a hurricane forecast and the threads of possible paths it could take.  All weather has the same characteristics.  For the best weather forecasts, watch the Weather Channel or any of your networks, except Fox.  Fox uses Accu Weather and they are the worst forecasters. 

The local TV weather folks sometimes take it upon themselves to outguess the NWS, That is usually the ones that make the big mistakes.

For current weather systems, I watch the radar on my phone and I can track where the weather is going.  It's centered on my location and I cycle it on past displays.  That will show a track the weather is taking, to give you an idea of what you need to know right now.  Especially helpful for watching thunderstorms for possible tornadoes.  I also watch the radar when rain and snow systems move thru the area so  I know when it's going to end and which way it's going.

Since I started using my phone I haven't watched the Weather Underground, wunderground.com I believe.  They were also very accurate.  Or you can go to weather.gov/xxx, where xxx is the NWS office serving your area.

I hope that helps you out for getting better weather forecast accuracy.

darrel in ND wrote: One thing the weather man never misses on around here is the wind. If he says the wind is going to blow, it damn sure is going to. Darrel

You mean it STOPS SOMETIMES??  I've never been there when that happens...

All the old timers had things that determined the weather for them and they were correct about 98% of the time.  I know one that's ALWAYS true....when you see horsetails (a certain cloud formation) it's gonna rain within 24 hours.

Well of course it doesn't ever stop blowing, Ted. That's how they can predict it so easily. Darrel

Well there, other brother Darrell. The wind is coming straight out of your direction, so me thinks yous the one who needs to close the door. Darrel

Being here in SE MI and the wind coming out of the north we always figured it was because OH Sux!

Best weatherman around here is the meteorologist at the nuke plant over on the coast. he's more accurate than the people on the news. You can sign up to get a daily email for him.