Drama in the Weather

I suppose the world of weather is not unlike the rest of the world.  There are always people ready to criticize, ready to pounce on an error, ready to believe that their own knowledge or skill is superior to that of another, and that others don't know what they are talking about.  Maybe it is just a sign of the times, or of the upcoming generation, but it feels like that this is getting worse and worse as time goes along. 

In the weather world, this sort of criticism is far more critical.  People get upset because a forecast did not occur exactly as predicted in their driveway.  It doesn't matter that the forecast was right for the region and occurred exactly as expected, if that rain did not fall on their yard, you are an idiot.  Most of these types of people really don't know anything about the weather to begin with.  They don't understand that predicting the future isn't exactly easy.

The ones that are worst though are those folks who think they know something.  Well, they do know something about weather and have experience and training, but, they don't seem to think they have the same predictive limitations that face us all. 

About a week and a half ago, for example, someone had made a report to the local weather service office of observing a rotating wall cloud.  Another amateur meteorologist jumped all over the report and ridiculed the person because they thought the conditions were such that this would not happen.  They figured it had to be some idiot who had no clue what he was looking at made an erroneous report.  Oh and did the people pile on their FB post all piling on the stupid person who made that report.  There was one problem with this...  The person who made the report was correct.  I had observed and filmed it prior to the report. 

There also seems to be a rigidity in folks that expects other people to be perfect.  Good example happened to me last night.  I was going through weather data for the upcoming weekend and based on what I had observed and read put out my forecast.  Within a number of minutes I was getting more feedback on that one post than I had gotten in weeks of correct forecasts. One of the pages I was getting info from had not fully updated their information when I viewed it so I saw two days of weather information that was supposed to be one.  It was changed after I had viewed and gone over the info.  Ooops, I goofed  (or they did), and the forecast 3 days out was wrong. 

That one minor and correctable error brought people out of the woodwork with criticism.  Why?  People are so quick to criticize others while excusing themselves.  People need to recognize their own imperfection and extend the same courtesy of excuse to others that they claim for themselves.  It is a principle that extends beyond weather and into every facet of life.

Jesus Christ had put it this way in Luke 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.  I don't think most people like to be criticized, or made fun of, or have the inevitable mistakes pounced on.  I think we would like people to gently point out and/or correct our errors, be forgiving of the gaffs we may make, and to be praised for the good work we do.  What a monumental world changing thing it would be if people would follow that one simple verse.