Like policemen, fire fighters, doctors and nurses, you often don’t notice meteorologists doing their work when things are going well. But when the weather gets bad and severe weather or winter storms threaten, meteorologists are one of the groups of people we as a society depend on to help tell us what is going on so we can protect our families, pets, and property. Every time you look at a forecast or use an app on your smartphone, there is a real person gathering the data, scrutinizing the model runs, and making the forecast that will help you decide what to do.
This week many meteorologists along the East Coast took food, camping equipment, and bottled water to their offices knowing that they might have to stay there for days working 24-7 to get updated forecasts and warnings out to emergency managers, state and local governments and the general public.
Marshall Shepherd addresses this in his latest Forbes blog post. When you complain about “lazy government workers”, you are doing these fine men and women a disservice. Not to mention all the work done by private forecasters as well as those working for state and local governments. And the National Weather Service is one of the best bargains in government, with a cost to each citizen of the US of only about $3 per year.
So I’d like to take a moment to recognize all the hard work that NWS and other meteorologists are doing this weekend to help predict and provide warnings about the blizzard in Washington DC, New York, and along the East Coast, and the sacrifices they make to keep us all safe when the weather is bad.
