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If you live in a tornado-prone state it's best to live in a basement, or you carry the risk of being killed by a tornado.
Please be sure you tell all those folks who live in areas where building basements is cost prohibitive.
Tell me something... Why do we even have a national weather service? For as long as I can remember meteorologists and officials at the NWS have told us that they just can't predict some tornadic storms and that they are working hard and studying the weather systems that produce tornadoes. How much more studying and how much more money will it take before they get it right?
Everyone knows this is a tough science but throwing more money at it won't change that. If a 5.1 billion dollar annual budget is not enough, we (American taxpayers) seriously need to consider cleaning house and replace the people in charge as well as those doing the work because there is no justification to spend that kind of money when it still produces little to no warning for a tornado.
Yes there are plenty times the NWS gets severe weather outbreaks spot on right. Those events are typically so obvious that almost all the forecasters get it pretty accurate.
Tell me something. Would you be content with your mechanic if they said >this< is a probable problem with your car, so you tell them to fix it. 50% of the time, at 5-7 days later your mechanic calls up and says, "I was wrong, you probably didn't need that repair/service after all, but you'll need >this new< repair or your car will probably fail. Then in the next breath say how they need to raise their prices so they would be more accurate. How long would that person remain your mechanic?
If NOAA/NWS would do their job, instead of wasting massive amounts of money studying and promoting junk science like AGW/ACC, I'm pretty sure they would realize they have more than an adequate budget, and they wouldn't need to try to beg for more. But we all know that isn't how government works. Government (at all levels and in all areas) claims that if we just throw more money at it they can do a better job, yet they almost never do. The NWS has made improvements, but nowhere near the improvements needed to justify a 5.1 billion dollar annual budget much less even more money.
Last edited by KS_Referee; 05-26-2013 at 11:48 PM..
If NOAA/NWS would do their job, instead of wasting massive amounts of money studying and promoting junk science like AGW/ACC, I'm pretty sure they would realize they have more than an adequate budget, and they wouldn't need to try to beg for more. But we all know that isn't how government works. Government (at all levels and in all areas) claims that if we just throw more money at it they can do a better job, yet they almost never do. The NWS has made improvements, but nowhere near the improvements needed to justify a 5.1 billion dollar annual budget much less even more money.
Meteorology is a young science, and the service of meteorology requires computing and monitoring. Furthermore, weather services save a lot of money (and lives) for our country.
I personally think the NHC alone saves enough lives to justify billions of dollars per year.
...Although I agree with your point about studying AGW/ACC.
There has not been a hurricane hit the US in the past 30 years that didn't have at least 1-2 days warning. That means you don't understand what it means to have NO warning, or maybe 2 minutes, 8 minutes, 16 minutes warning before a tornado destroys just about everything above ground in its path.
The families that see where their homes once were don't feel like the NWS saved them a dime. The families of those who are killed by tornadoes, especially when there was little to no warning and maybe not even an issued tornado watch, don't necessarily view the NWS as saving lives. What those families (along with every other taxpayer) are guaranteed to get from the NWS is a portion of the 5.1 billion dollar the bill to fund the NOAA/NWS, only to hear NOAA/NWS ask for more.
Pathetic.
NOAA isn't the NWS though. NWS get's a very small portion of that budget (less than 1 billion), and with things like tornado outbreaks you need people in the front line to monitor the potentially hundreds of individual cells that could develop tornadoes. Most weather offices are understaffed too...
There has not been a hurricane hit the US in the past 30 years that didn't have at least 1-2 days warning. That means you don't understand what it means to have NO warning, or maybe 2 minutes, 8 minutes, 16 minutes warning before a tornado destroys just about everything above ground in its path.
Pathetic.
Actually, there have been plenty of storms that made last minute swerves in the last 3 days that affected their landing points by HUNDREDS of miles.
I recall a certain hurricane Floyd (1999), that forced the evacuation of the entire east coast of Florida. Since then, hurricane forecasting have gotten much better, though one thing behind the improved forecasts is the data collection done by the hurricane hunters and the NWS.
I understand the threat of a fast moving cell that can produce tornadoes, and that's why you need people monitoring the conditions outside and monitoring the weather...
...But as I said, many of the small offices in the mid west are understaffed.
NOAA isn't the NWS though. NWS get's a very small portion of that budget (less than 1 billion), and with things like tornado outbreaks you need people in the front line to monitor the potentially hundreds of individual cells that could develop tornadoes. Most weather offices are understaffed too...
During a severe weather outbreak, where HUNDREDS of tornadoes could spawn and where cells could develop and spawn in an hour, the weather centers ACROSS the nation ARE understaffed.
If a hurricane might come close, a family typically has 1-2 days to evacuate to save their lives. How does that even come close to comparing with 16 minutes warning on an F5 tornado?
You're right, a tornado threat is much more immediate to an individual family.
...Yet a hurricane, without forecasting, would force an entire region of people that live near the beach to evacuate if people didn't want to leave their lives up to chance.
...We've come a long way since a few decades ago, when radars were slow and the prediction for a tornado outbreak was much less accurate.
...However, if a company wanted to set up radar and monitoring stations and research centers and sell tornado warning services to the hundreds of cities across the nations, let them. Until then, let's keep funding the NWS. You may not notice it, but the science and service of meteorology IS improving.
Reading your words has become a major waste of my time. You want to throw good money after bad at an organization that wastes more than it benefits the public. Go ahead... just use YOUR money, not everyone else's.
Reading your words has become a major waste of my time. You want to throw good money after bad at an organization that wastes more than it benefits the public. Go ahead... just use YOUR money, not everyone else's.
So you don't recognize the service the NWS provides for tornado warnings?
Go ahead, find me a tornado spotting service that replaces it.
Why argue with him? Is argument is this: if you can't get forecasts a week out, 100% right, 100% of the time, don't even bother.
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