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Friday, February 05, 2010

Nuance

Jerry is nonplussed by the latest National Weather Service forecast for the Bay Area:
"Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 4pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4pm."
Jerry says: "The nature of the 4PM transition for tomorrow is not clear to me. I suspect that the nuances in the phraseology will be lost on the general public!"

Very nuanced! It escapes me too!

I remember Lou Battan (one of our former U of A meteorology professors) talking about forecasting for the Italian public. They apparently have no tolerance for nuance. A 50% chance of rain is a meaningless concept. Will it rain, or won't it? That's what they want to know.

And, truth be told, that's what we want to know too.

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