Weather TALK [forecasts, etc]

[dr. d]

WTF?!!

Meteorologists face pushback despite very accurate storm forecasts

“The forecasts were quite accurate, and nobody can say they were surprised by the landfall location and intensity of these storms,” said John Morales, a meteorologist and hurricane specialist for NBC 6 South Florida.

And yet, at a time when hurricane forecasts are at their most accurate, some meteorologists say they’ve never faced so much skepticism, hatred and conspiracy-minded pushback.

They’ve been falsely accused, mostly on social media, of steering the hurricanes to Florida or Appalachia. Some have reported threats of violence online, while others say they’ve experienced personal attacks.

“In the past two months, there’s been such an uptick in conspiracy theories, especially on social media, it’s undermining my ability to do my job effectively,” said Matthew Cappucci, a meteorologist with MyRadar Weather and The Washington Post. “People will see an errant signal on a radar and think we’re zapping hurricanes. There are people who think we’re able to steer hurricanes into red states.”

Cappucci said social media commenters have berated him for his Harvard education and said he should be fired. At a bar in Louisiana recently, Cappucci added, he was interrupted by a man who noticed his MyRadar shirt and insisted that Cappucci worked for Bill Gates.

“He spent the next 14 minutes harassing me about weather modification,” Cappucci said.

if this critique were to happen locally, i'd label it as "politics"
i think our local weather bureau is doing announcing fine, naman.

even if there is nothing really wrong with xxxx,
"... something is wrong with xxxx. vote for me (out and out or between the lines) and i will fix xxxx!"

that!,
or the guy does not understand what he speaks of.

come to think of it, i think a local politico did mention it...

heh heh.