On Jan 21, 6:19 am, Russell wrote:
On Jan 21, 5:04 am, "Ken S. Tucker" wrote:
On Jan 20, 4:29 pm, Russell wrote:
snip
There is an interesting book, _Authors of the Storm_, which is
a sociologist's study of operational forecasters (mostly with
the NWS). It looks at, among other things, the tension between
government forecasters and the media. The forecasters need the
media to transmit their forecasts to the public and the media
needs the Weather Service to provide authoritative information.
Cheers,
Russell

In Muskoka Ontario, tourism is a BIG deal, and a
forecast for bad weather on a week-end is costly,
and what's worse is when it turned out great.
Well as you can imagine the business owners who
rely on about 10 weekends a summer are mad at
the weatherman.
Subsequently, presuming by commercial pressure,
(tourist advertising is a BIG deal for the media),
every week-end forecast was rosey after that.

If a hurricane was barreling in they might forecast
sunny with cloudy periods, it became a local joke.
Regards
Ken S. Tucker

Weather Service forecasters are familiar with "Chamber
of Commerce" forecasts from the media. They are even
aware of such pressure on themselves. The topic is also
mentioned in _Authors of the Storm_. We used to see
such things in Washington, DC, although the different
media outlets suffered to varying degrees. Of course,
there is often room for interpretation. Those of us at
NCEP would occasionally demur with what the local
forecast office said.
Cheers,
Russell

LOL, there's even a name "Chamber of Commerce
weather forecast".
Regards
Ken