Do We Really Need a National Weather Service?

[BDBoop]

Their solution? Privatize it. Because people selling weather with a "profit motive" sell the best weather.

What?

That post makes no sense.

One sells access to information (specifically, one's data points and predictions), not weather. Well, maybe one could sell weather if one were Storm from the X-men, but you do realize that's a comic book, right?

Yeah, that's pretty much the conclusion the gang at Fark came to.

 

[Big Fitz]

I can easily see how a for-profit weather service could become a tool for manipulation.

Those of you who cannot need to think more deeply about who uses and truly depends on weather forevasts.

Wouldn't it be nice, for example, to be one of the insiders who FIRST KNEW that a cold snap was going to decimate the Florida orange crop?

Do you think you could make any money knowing that before anybody else?

No I think having a GOOD national weather service is in the best interests of the public.

always follow the money

right, and that's why Glowbull Warming is falling apart.

 

[Oddball]

I can easily see how a for-profit weather service could become a tool for manipulation.

Those of you who cannot need to think more deeply about who uses and truly depends on weather forevasts.

Wouldn't it be nice, for example, to be one of the insiders who FIRST KNEW that a cold snap was going to decimate the Florida orange crop?

Do you think you could make any money knowing that before anybody else?

No I think having a GOOD national weather service is in the best interests of the public.

You seem to assume the federal agency will necessarily learn about such things before a private company.

No I don't assume that.

What I assume is sans a national weather service the public might NOT be given that information in as timely and accurately a fashion as possible.

I do not doubt that private meteorlogical services can do a good job.

After all, they're MOSTLY using information that is gathered THANKS to the federal governments satillites and stations, of course.

Sans those, the private sector would have to reinvent those stations and satillites.

What is their motivation to GIVE that costly data to everybody else?

Well, we all know what they say about the word "assume", don't we?

Tens of thousands of airliners and private aircraft need complete and accurate weather information on an up-to-the-minute basis...Likewise the seafaring shipping industry around the world...No markets of scale there!

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Do We Really Need A National Weather Service? | FoxNews.com

Check the last four letters in the URL. Derp.

I can't even grab a couple of paragraphs. I'm laughing too hard.

G'nite, Irene.

They are actually making some good points. Can you tell me the last time your local station turned to the NWS for a local forecast? Most stations prefer to get their forecasts from their own staff meteorologist because it gives them a better idea of what the conditions will be in their area. The NWS does regional forecasts, not local ones. Even the Wether Channel is more accurate than they are for local conditions.

As for aviation, that is not an area I can comment on knowledgeably, but if I had to trust my life to a weather forecast I would use more than one. My guess is that most airlines have their own meteorologists to make forecasts, mostly because the government is a bit slow to upgrade to new technology. The FCC has been working to upgrade airports to Doppler Radar, even though the tech has been around for decades, and it is actually possible for a competent technician to build one in a home lab.

I wouldn't want to throw it away without some more thoughy, but they do make a good case for eliminating the NWS.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

This is the "mistake" they cite:

Relying on inaccurate government reports can endanger lives. Last year the Service failed to predict major flooding in Nashville because it miscalculated the rate at which water was releasing from dams there. The NWS continued to rely on bad information, even after forecasters knew the data were inaccurate. The flooding resulted in 22 deaths.

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Because water being released from dams is part of the "weather". Their solution? Privatize it. Because people selling weather with a "profit motive" sell the best weather.

So sick of the right wing. Well, the one good thing about Fox, if they don't like the weather, they just "make up" new weather.

Water going into dams is part of the weather forecast, and intelligent people (sorry for excluding you from this discussion) understand that dams can only hold so much water. A flood warning for the area would have made sense. Don't worry though, all the people in Tennessee are poor Republicans and do not expect the feds to help.

That explains why you did not hear anything about the floods on MSNBC.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Their solution? Privatize it. Because people selling weather with a "profit motive" sell the best weather.

What?

That post makes no sense.

One sells access to information (specifically, one's data points and predictions), not weather. Well, maybe one could sell weather if one were Storm from the X-men, but you do realize that's a comic book, right?

Your problem is assuming that rdean can think.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

and consider all the equipment is government owned....i.e. satellites

Most satellites are privately owned. They do not even need the government to put them into orbit anymore.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I can easily see how a for-profit weather service could become a tool for manipulation.

Those of you who cannot need to think more deeply about who uses and truly depends on weather forevasts.

Wouldn't it be nice, for example, to be one of the insiders who FIRST KNEW that a cold snap was going to decimate the Florida orange crop?

Do you think you could make any money knowing that before anybody else?

No I think having a GOOD national weather service is in the best interests of the public.

You seem to assume the federal agency will necessarily learn about such things before a private company.

No I don't assume that.

What I assume is sans a national weather service the public might NOT be given that information in as timely and accurately a fashion as possible.

I do not doubt that private meteorlogical services can do a good job.

After all, they're MOSTLY using information that is gathered THANKS to the federal governments satillites and stations, of course.

Sans those, the private sector would have to reinvent those stations and satillites.

What is their motivation to GIVE that costly data to everybody else?

Assume away.

The best surf forecaster I ever heard of worked out of his kitchen, and gave his forecasts away. He was so accurate that the Coast Guard used to check with him rather than rely on the official forecast that came from the NWS, and surfers all over the world would turn to his predictions before grabbing their boards in the morning.

Just because the government does not pay for it does not mean it is not available. The Weather Channel makes predictions 24/7 and is never late.

 

[Wry Catcher]

If we get rid of the NWS, do we leave small Kansas towns to their own devices when it comes to tornado watches and warnings? If they're wiped out by a twister, do we say 'too bad, they should have money for cable so they could have watched the Weather Channel'?

There are those who advocate a "too bad" policy, some of them are running for the Republican nomination for POTUS.

 

[Big Fitz]

Even the Wether Channel is more accurate than they are for local conditions.

Okay that scares me. I prefer NOAA and wunderground for weather news. But I still wish NOAA would quit playing politics, particularly in the glowbull wurming arena.

 

[flacaltenn]

This is the "mistake" they cite:

Relying on inaccurate government reports can endanger lives. Last year the Service failed to predict major flooding in Nashville because it miscalculated the rate at which water was releasing from dams there. The NWS continued to rely on bad information, even after forecasters knew the data were inaccurate. The flooding resulted in 22 deaths.

------------------

Because water being released from dams is part of the "weather". Their solution? Privatize it. Because people selling weather with a "profit motive" sell the best weather.

So sick of the right wing. Well, the one good thing about Fox, if they don't like the weather, they just "make up" new weather.

Living in Nashville, we all know it was NOT the Weather Service that screwed up on the flooding prediction.. It was the Army Corps of Engineers that made promises from Washington that they couldn't keep and couldn't verify.. DIFFERENT govt incompetents..

 

[rdean]

If they would stick to only reporting data and not play in politics... it's a good use of the taxpayers money to have this.

Just curious. How does the weather service "play politics"?

They propagandize about AGW.

Republicans know something the entire rest of the world doesn't know. Because they're so smart. They have God.

 

[flacaltenn]

Actually -- I can sign up with my local TV station to alert me by phone of significant weather.

The NWS IS important -- If it was PRIVATE -- they'd get their asses sued for making mistakes. With NWS and all those Federal agencies involved -- they just get bigger budgets when they screw up and people die...

 

[freedombecki]

The National Weather Service (NWS) was founded in 1870. Originally, the NWS was not a public information agency. It was a national security agency and placed under the Department of War. The Service’s national security function has long since disappeared, but as agencies often do, however, it stuck around and managed to increase its budget. source
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I'm for keeping the National Weather Service in American hands. You can sell an American Company to foreign interests, which just takes away American jobs or routes the unwitting purchaser of a product to a country for user instructions that doesn't understand English very well. I got a lecture last year from a computer operator in India when I had a question about my computer. I got a very unpleasant person on the other end who had to ask me 4 times what I said, and then she just got mad and hung up, so I had to call back and ask someone else who demanded 70 bucks on the spot. I'll never buy another Sony computer for the duration of my life.

Oh, yes, and one other thing. The computer broke one year to the day after my purchase. That was my first time I'd ever called them, but it turned out to be my final contact with those scheister people. Can you say planned obsolescence?

I'm against getting rid of the National Weather Service. If a hostile nation declares war on us, we might need the expertise and facilities for gauging weather that isn't owned by one of their flighty little blind coconspirators who doesn't know the language and hates our guts before speaking to one of us.
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[Old Rocks]

If they would stick to only reporting data and not play in politics... it's a good use of the taxpayers money to have this.

Just curious. How does the weather service "play politics"?

They propagandize about AGW.

I see. Reporting that the weather has warmed over the last 150 years is propaganda? Perhaps they should just report that it is 80 degrees in Houston today, and that would make everyone feel cooler, correct?

You dingbats are a hoot. Reality is propaganda. Been doin' Hillbilly Heroin with you hero again?

 

[Big Fitz]

Just curious. How does the weather service "play politics"?

They propagandize about AGW.

Republicans know something the entire rest of the world doesn't know. Because they're so smart. They have God.

My god, I never thought I'd be able to witness someone getting dumber as they typed. I was wrong.

 

[Old Rocks]

Have a look in the mirror, Fritz old boy, look in the mirror.

 

[konradv]

It's an opinion piece. OpEds are designed to ignite a debate. Apparently, that is outside the intellectual pay grade of the OP and quite a few posters on here.

Aren't we debating properly? How about enlightening us? You've basically posted something everybody already knows, added nothing to the "debate" and managed to insult those that have posted. Way to go! What's your point in posting here anyway?