Monday, May 05, 2014
Met[eo]rology
Pretty decent** thunderstorm a couple hours ago. Just now the KXLY weatherblond mentioned the storm, described it accurately enough, then said "And it's raining right now at the Spokane airport."
No it isn't, weatherblond. This tells me that you don't know how to use your info sources. The Weather Bureau's local observations are made once an hour unless something impels them to take more frequent readings. This means the indication is usually at least a half-hour behind. Also, the airport has an odd habit of showing -RA or DZ when absolutely everything is dry. Something in their instrumentation often senses rain when it's not really there.
How do I know it isn't there right now? Because I can see where the clouds are. They've moved off to the east, and the sky is clear in the direction of the airport. But mostly because Weather.com radar says so.
And I know from years of watching that Weather.com radar is NEVER wrong. Where it shows rain, it's raining. Where it shows no rain, it's not raining. This is accurate down to a few blocks, and correct EVERY TIME.
Know your instruments. Know your baselines. You may be a meteorologist, blondie, but you're not a metrologist.
= = = = =
** Footnote: Spokane residents are tough about snow, but we're wussies about t-storms. If this "pretty decent thunderstorm" had happened in Oklahoma, I would have said "Hmm. Looked a bit cloudy for a while there, but nothing came of it. Thanks, weather gods!"
¶ 5:35 PM 
How do I know it isn't there right now? Because I can see where the clouds are. They've moved off to the east, and the sky is clear in the direction of the airport. But mostly because Weather.com radar says so.
And I know from years of watching that Weather.com radar is NEVER wrong. Where it shows rain, it's raining. Where it shows no rain, it's not raining. This is accurate down to a few blocks, and correct EVERY TIME.
Know your instruments. Know your baselines. You may be a meteorologist, blondie, but you're not a metrologist.
= = = = =
** Footnote: Spokane residents are tough about snow, but we're wussies about t-storms. If this "pretty decent thunderstorm" had happened in Oklahoma, I would have said "Hmm. Looked a bit cloudy for a while there, but nothing came of it. Thanks, weather gods!"
¶ 5:35 PM
