Thursday, October 4, 2007

Fortunes, Forecasts, Lucky Charms

It is interesting to me to watch the local news when I travel. I've noticed weather patterns in different places and think about whether it would be exciting or dull to be a forcaster in these places. Hawaii, for example, has lovely weather, but the forcasters have kind of a boring job. They say the same thing every morning: "It's going to be another beautiful day in paradise." The weather is crazy in Utah, and the weathermen are local celebrities. They wear white coats on snow days and things like this. I'm used to hearing them give percentages, like "there is a 60% chance of rain," or "watch for low clouds and a slight chance of snow." But I've never heard a percentage forcast like I did last week here in Seattle. The reporter said, "There is a 100% chance that it will rain on Sunday." Thanks. Thanks for the Likelihood ratio there.

1 comment:

Terra said...

They do that in Portland too. Last week they said some Thursday was going to be the last day of sunshine all year!?!?!? Come on there were still nearly a hundred days left in the year... It was warm and sunny all through the weekend.