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I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the comment that “meteorologists are the only people who get paid for making bad forecasts”. In fact, most meteorologists are pretty good at making weather forecasts, so good, in fact, that you probably don’t even notice their skill. It’s the few tough forecasts that they miss on that get all the attention. If you compare our accuracy to other people who make forecasts, like economists, we do a great job. Here is a Forbes.com article by Dr. Marshall Shepherd, UGA, that discusses this false perception of weather forecasters compared to other forecast types. You can read it here.
Lt. John Meisenheimer, the Air Force weather liaison officer at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, gave the weather forecast for the launch of Explorer 1 in late January 1958. Here he is pictured at the Cape in 1956. (Courtesy of John Meisenheimer)
