You can’t do much about the weather, but your clicks can help register your rejection of the War on Science.
Last week, The Washington Post reported the proposed budget slashing funding to improve weather forecasting.
In the US, weather-related data (temp, humidity, barometer, wind speed, etc.) is gathered locally. This raw data is forwarded to and aggregated by the National Weather Service (NWS) which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The NWS provides “ ... weather, water, and climate data, forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property and enhancement of the national economy.”
For free.
Well, actually, it’s not free. Federal tax dollars pay for this service.
In 2005, AccuWeather founders Barry and Joel Myers gave money to then-Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. (AccuWeather lives in Pennsylvania.) Santorum proposed legislation continuing NWS’s gathering of weather data but allowing distribution of this data and forecasts only through private (e.g.: AccuWeather) services. Costs are public. Profit is private. Santorum’s proposal got not even one co-sponsor. Problem solved.
Don’t get your hopes up. Pennsylvania voted Santorum out of office, but no one drove a wooden stake through the heart of his proposal. Watch as it rises from the un-dead.
On the list of possible nominees to head NOAA, The Washington Post reports Barry Myers is the front-runner. Barry Myers? Hmmn, that name sounds familiar. Oh! Right! The CEO of AccuWeather. What a coincidence!
What’s to be done? Vote with your clicks.
Remember: “free” (but private) weather reporting and forecasting services make money showing you advertising. Okay, I know: lots of their revenue comes from selling their services commercially, but that’s out of your hands.
Get your weather from the National Weather Service. You’re already paying for it! In the US, they’re the folks gathering all the data underlying all US forecasting.
The pic at the top is a screen shot of one of the National Weather Service’s products: a local forecast page for New York City. Here’s the URL:
forecast.weather.gov/…
Customize it for your location: toward the upper left corner of the page, enter a ZIP code or location name; or, half-way down the right side of the page, dragon drop the map; or, if you’re highly sophistamacated, modify the URL with your own latitude and longitude, but don’t forget: west longitude is negative.
AccuWeather (or other private services) won’t profit from your clicks!
But wait! There’s more!
I haven’t a clue how popular this story will be; it may sink like stone. But if there’s interest, I (and others) can follow up with NOAA’s / NWS’s web pages for stuff like river levels and snow. Hey! They’ve even got web pages for space weather. Who knew?