Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Weather Watchers

GopherGal

(2,862 posts)

5. Well, yes, but I have my own theory about the risk/reward schema for Meteorology.

Reply to bucolic_frolic (Reply #4)

Sun Feb 22, 2026, 03:28 PM

22 hrs ago

that doesn't involve much in the way of financial/commercial incentive.

I think their risk/reward is something like:
Predict 6 inches, but actually get 12 = REALLY BAD, as in "you'll never live it down"
Predict 12 inches, but actually get 6 = NOT GOOD, but you can live it down.
So they have a strong aversion to possible under-prediction of snow totals.

For years after the infamous Minnesota "Halloween Blizzard" in 1991, where 12 inches was predicted and 28 inches was received, the TV meteorologists were way over-predicting snowfalls.

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

6 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

🔴 LIVE - HISTORIC BLIZZARD SLAMMING THE NORTHEAST - WHITEOUT CONDITIONS FROM PHILLY TO NYC_Ryan Hall, Y'all... [View all] 2naSalit Yesterday OP

Stay safe all! SheltieLover Yesterday #1

The precip is already almost 4 hours late bucolic_frolic Yesterday #2

A theory comes together. GopherGal 23 hrs ago #3

That's plausible. But so is the Weather People are hyping the last winter storm for ratings bucolic_frolic 22 hrs ago #4

Well, yes, but I have my own theory about the risk/reward schema for Meteorology. GopherGal 22 hrs ago #5

We had one of those in Philly too bucolic_frolic 22 hrs ago #6