Forums → The Tavern → Purpose of meteorology?

Can't stand a little hot or cold on the loooong, outdoor trek back to the car?

It's the same risk as having no forecast, but if we had no forecast we wouldn't know this is the risk. And also, in this case it doesn't matter, but in most cases (pretty much every other arrangement of statistics) it does.

You're saying that as if it's easy to find some place to support a party (that could be an extremely huge party) with literally no word in advance. There aren't just places that are like "ohyea, we'll take 200 people in without notice".

There are plenty of parties you can have for free outside (BBQs, sports, ect) and some parties you can only have outside, so why waste money renting some indoor place if, with a weather forecast, you can be almost certain it can work out outside?

A) Sure it has
B) Who wants to sit in the rain eating soggy food? And if there are sports involved you can't play on the fields if they are wet.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you just agreed that a weather forecast beforehand would have been nice.

Carrying extra equipment on a hike is a hassle.

Try doing actual mountain hiking with an umbrella and a jacket with you. Not the easiest thing.

And it seems your only/main argument is to be prepared.

It's one of those outdoor shopping centers, movie theaters, resturant arcades, the whole thing. But most of the walkways are outdoors. And that trek can get long.

If it were less than 50% you would still plan the event wouldn't you?

PowerPlay. That'd be more fun than a boring ol' park anyway. :P

Haha. I mentioned before, almost all parks have a shelter.

And hey, why not make those sports extreme and have twice the fun in the rain?

More of a hassle than millions of dollars going to useless weather forecasting?

Besides, be prepared is pretty much an essential when hiking

(Weren't you ever a boy scout XD)

Isn't that the only argument I need?

Urr, to answer the OP: the purpose of meteorology is to predict not only local weather changes, but also weather changes that could possibly be devastating, like tornadoes, or hurricanes. Some people just don't get it though, no matter how many times it is told to them...

I don't actually know any parks with shelter. Or forests, unless shelter means standing up against a tree and hope you don't get completely soaked in your raincoat that can't hold water.

And I have no idea what Powerplay is, so I will assume it is something American that is used to make the needs of everything else look stupid because we only have rational stuff.

What the weather forecast is good for:
Warning people about rain, storms, hurricanes and whatever else might be threatening a population. Considering Denmark is surrounded pretty closely with water, it tends to be a good thing so you are prepared that your basement might be filled with water if it is raining too much or a storm is starting up. In that case you might be able to save some of the stuff you will be needing.

Knowing whether or not there is a chance for a white Christmas this year. Without the weather forecast to tell me there is is a snowball's chance in hell for that, I might be hyped about the bit of snow there have been the last few days. Instead I am not. Thus no energy wasted.

With summers that differ between "Oh, I am sorry, you said 'too hot', not 'I really hope the heat gets something to start burning'. Honest mistake." and "Lol, I hope you weren't counting on sleeping in only a blanket! Better turn on your heat again!" it is kinda nice to know whether you should pack shorts and t-shirts or a ski mask. Especially if you don't have the chance of packing both, unless you want to carry the one load that will break your back or suffer through having no clean clothes sans the one that will make you die of heat or freeze your feet off.

Oh, and it is pretty good for compiling information on past weather and how it might be in the future, Global Warming and all.

But if you don't find it important, that's nice too. Others just might, though.
They probably don't have those spider sense like you do.

Yes, but we wouldn't know it was less than 50 without a forecast.

I don't know what that is, but i doubt it would take a large group of people last minute.

No parks near me have a very large shelter, if any shelter at all.

Because they become extremely dangerous.

For the use of hundreds of millions of people.

You only prepare for what you need to prepare for, not something you can rule out. If it was going to rain i wouldn't even go hiking in the first place.

Well, everyone else on the thread thinks it's a terrible one.

And I have no idea what Powerplay is, so I will assume it is something American that is used to make the needs of everything else look stupid because we only have rational stuff.

Warning people about rain, storms, hurricanes and whatever else might be threatening a population.

it tends to be a good thing so you are prepared that your basement might be filled with water if it is raining too much or a storm is starting up. In that case you might be able to save some of the stuff you will be needing.

Knowing whether or not there is a chance for a white Christmas this year.

With summers that differ between "Oh, I am sorry, you said 'too hot', not 'I really hope the heat gets something to start burning'. Honest mistake." and "Lol, I hope you weren't counting on sleeping in only a blanket! Better turn on your heat again!"

it is kinda nice to know whether you should pack shorts and t-shirts or a ski mask.

Oh, and it is pretty good for compiling information on past weather and how it might be in the future, Global Warming and all.

Warning people about rain, storms, hurricanes and whatever else might be threatening a population. Considering Denmark is surrounded pretty closely with water, it tends to be a good thing so you are prepared that your basement might be filled with water if it is raining too much or a storm is starting up. In that case you might be able to save some of the stuff you will be needing.

He thinks the solution to this is to stand on your roof and look into the distance to see the hurricane ._.

ninja'd

So?

Those are some poor, low budget parks.

How? Someone trips and gets a bruise? Boo hoo, big deal.

People who don't really need weather forecasts.

What? You only prepare for what you need to prepare for??

Ha. Because it's winning.

So we wouldn't know not to plan it?

They're fairly nice parks actually.

Slipping and breaking a few bones is okay i guess~

You can't state that as if it's a fact if nobody agrees with you about this.

Yes...

Arrogance... are you JAMMESS?

PowerPlay, is basically a huge, indoor arcade, hundreds of people go there every day in my area.

Usually when tornadoes form near my area in Kansas, I am always well aware of them because of huge clouds building up over-head, I don't need meteorologists to tell me that.

The sump pump in your house should take care of water in your basement before it happens, that's what mine does.

Why do you need to know this? You can't do anything about it. What difference does it make?

What?

Uhh...Pack depending on what season it is... If it's summer, pack t-shirt and shorts, if it's winter, pack your heavy stuff.

Past weather has no effect on future weather. Are you saying that since it rained today, it will rain today every year? That's inductive reasoning, and is useless.

He thinks the solution to this is to stand on your roof and look into the distance to see the hurricane ._.

In response to your (Afterburner's) "hiking" scenario...

You live in Kansas. The highest "mountain" in Kansas is about 4,000 ft. Furthermore, you have only one "mountain" worth listing on wikipedias "U.S. mountains page". You have probably never been on a real hike.

Where I live, we have mountains well over 10,000 feet (and one over 20,000 ft). We have national/state parks the size of Kansas that are just pure wilderness. These are not places you want to go unless you have an idea what the weather will be like WEEKS in advance. Yes, this isn't terribly accurate, but it is far better than nothing.

Furthermore, about your "dressing for the season" thing...

Seasons can be fickle. In Fairbanks, some days it will be a balmy 10 degrees, and then it will suddenly drop to negative 40 for a week or so. No matter what, you need to bring a jacket wherever you go. But, its nice to know whether you will be needing a simple ski jacket or something more suitable to the Arctic. Since we sometimes go on multiple day hikes, the whole "just have it in your car" logic doesn't really apply.

Furthermore: Consider the following two scenarios:

1)
Where I currently go to school, there is a small but significant chance that it will snow on Thursday morning. There is almost no chance of it snowing on Friday morning. I don't own a car, so I am forced to borrow my friends car, which is two wheel drive and can't make it on snowy roads. I need to make a doctor's appointment for either Thursday or Friday morning: what day do I pick?

2) Tonight, I want to take my girlfriend on a romantic date. We both love to go star gazing (note that here it gets dark very early, so this activity does not need to wait until "night&quot. Of course, this activity is literally impossible if the skies are not completely clear. I can take her out to a dinner and movie as a backup plan, but I need to make reservations for dinner. Lets assume I can't do both activities, and that the restaurant will be severely pissed if I don't show up. Clearly, wouldn't taking half a minute to look up the forecast on my phone be worth it?

Don't have anything like that.

Storms and hurricanes are pretty much the same thing here. If big cloud are building up, the first thought is "It is going to rain" not "The wind will make your roof fly off."

The amount of people with water damage in the capital that would punch you for such a reply is rather high.
Especially those with their business or bars located below ground level.

Imagine it is summer. July, August, the time of year. One day it might be hot, sunny and dry, and two days later you will be lighting up your fireplace and wearing extra socks.
Because summer in Denmark sucks. Winter in Denmark sucks too, it is just a matter of how much rain there will come, and whether or not all that rain will be freezing to a thick layer of snice the next day or not.

As I mentioned, summer is not always fit for shorts and t-shirts. Last time I tried that, I had to borrow shirts from my dad because I had only brought t-shirts.
This summer it had been raining for forever, and the moment I travel back home in my long trousers, suddenly everything is sunny and hot.

"This is the hottest summer in ten years".
"The last time it was a white Christmas was last year".
Stuff like that, that actually matters. The ability to see that weather is changing and how it has been changing so there might be a chance to predict how the future weather will be.
Think a little bigger, darling.

I can't get to roof of my apartment building. I am doomed.

Once again, it's fine that you don't need them, but it doesn't make them useless.
It's like saying that just because you don't play games, they are useless and should stop being produced because they are a waste of money.
Considering the US has a weather channel, I kinda assume there is enough interest to fund and otherwise useless channel, eh?
But thumbs up on not needing them. Others just might not be weather gods like you.

You live in Kansas. The highest "mountain" in Kansas is about 4,000 ft. Furthermore, you have only one "mountain" worth listing on wikipedias "U.S. mountains page". You have probably never been on a real hike.

Where I live, we have mountains well over 10,000 feet (and one over 20,000 ft). We have national/state parks the size of Kansas that are just pure wilderness. These are not places you want to go unless you have an idea what the weather will be like WEEKS in advance. Yes, this isn't terribly accurate, but it is far better than nothing.

Where I currently go to school, there is a small but significant chance that it will snow on Thursday morning. There is almost no chance of it snowing on Friday morning. I don't own a car, so I am forced to borrow my friends car, which is two wheel drive and can't make it on snowy roads. I need to make a doctor's appointment for either Thursday or Friday morning: what day do I pick?

Tonight, I want to take my girlfriend on a romantic date. We both love to go star gazing (note that here it gets dark very early, so this activity does not need to wait until "night&quot. Of course, this activity is literally impossible if the skies are not completely clear. I can take her out to a dinner and movie as a backup plan, but I need to make reservations for dinner. Lets assume I can't do both activities, and that the restaurant will be severely pissed if I don't show up. Clearly, wouldn't taking half a minute to look up the forecast on my phone be worth it?

Whichever. Snow plows clear all the snow in the morning.

Just step outside and check the clouds a few hours earlier. If it's cloudy, go to the restaurant. If it's not, go star gazing.

It is actually worse than nothing. What if they predict good weather on the day you need it? Then you'll make all your plans in shallow predictions. Then your day would be ruined if, and most likely, they were wrong. Better off with no forecast.

Second, who cares what past weather was?

First, Don't call me 'darling' :P.

So? What's wrong with wearing socks next to a fireplace two days later?