Weather wars: Winter storm 1, Dec. 8-9, 2009
Every year ’round this time, amateur weather watchers tee-off against their local meteorologists, weather girls and professional Doppler junkies. They criticize everything from the blase “There could be some snow in the metro” to the alarmist, a-snowflake-is-a-blizzard school of thought.
Weather broadcasters are allowed to be wrong — a lot. (If an MLB umpire had the same accuracy rate, he’d be pilloried post-game in the parking lot.) They just aren’t allowed to be vague. All or nothing, baby. Take your shot.
In the first of a series of winter weatherperson watching, The Pitch is proud to announce the most accurate forecast from the local news affiliates, based on yesterday’s midday forecast for snow accumulation in the metro, as measured on my deck in midtown.
But first, here are the guesses:
- KCTV5‘s Gary Amble: 2-4 inches
- KMBC‘s Joel Nichols (9 a.m. forecast) 1-2 inches; Erin Little 12 p.m. (no prediction)
- KSHB’s Brett Anthony: 1-4 inches
- WDAF‘s Mike Thompson: less than 3 inches
A few folks were in the right neighborhood, but this week’s win goes to Joel Nichols. Not only did he call it first, he called it right. There was 1.5 inches of snow on my back deck. Brett Anthony and Mike Thompson were in the right range, but no one could touch Nichols’ precision.
OK, when’s the next storm?
