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while there could indeed be a weather channel, much of the information the weather channel delivers is due to systems in place that the government put out there. Satellites, radar, super computers, they are what makes forecasting and warning possible.
actually from what I understand no party has ever spoken to privatize the NWS and NOAA. Back a a number of years ago Rick Santorum got on the Accu Weather bandwagon at the time to try to re-write some of what NWS does.... but everyone agrees even AW that NWS should always remain the sole warning source in the country. In fact Rep Wolfe (R-VA) wants to give NOAA the money they need.... So this isnt a party thing...
Another COMPLETE fabrication. EVERY State, County and local city/town has the authority by being an elected governing body to provide it OWN warnings which can & often do come without the NWS first issuing the warning. They get these warnings from coordinated groups like the one I am a part of.
I have numerous citations from multiple counties, a few cities and even several from the National Weather Service itself for warnings "I" provided through our coordinated EOCs. Warnings that produced local or county government issued warnings, only to have the NWS follow suit based on my personal warning or the groups coordinated warning.
Please do not embarrass yourself any farther than you already have.
while there could indeed be a weather channel, much of the information the weather channel delivers is due to systems in place that the government put out there. Satellites, radar, super computers, they are what makes forecasting and warning possible.
Many tv stations are getting their own forecasting tools, including very high powered computers. Most tv stations have had their own radar for years.
BTW, the National Weather Service cannot accurately predict the weather 5 days out. Just like everyone else in the business.
Another COMPLETE fabrication. EVERY State, County and local city/town has the authority by being an elected governing body to provide it OWN warnings which can & often do come without the NWS first issuing the warning. They get these warnings from coordinated groups like the one I am a part of.
I have numerous citations from multiple counties, a few cities and even several from the National Weather Service itself for warnings "I" provided through our coordinated EOCs. Warnings that produced local or county government issued warnings, only to have the NWS follow suit based on my personal warning or the groups coordinated warning.
Please do not embarrass yourself any farther than you already have.
What the NWS does well is relay the warnings to people watching tv or listening to the radio.
The private sector can, by replacing the NWS workers with private company workers in the same place. But problem is the private sector needs to make a profit to survive. How is that company that takes over going to make money doing warning services? Are they going to have someone pay to get a subscription to a service to provide the data? If you dont subscribe you dont get anything. The private company isnt going to make money, sending techs out in the field to repair radars, do maintenance on equipment. The parts for fixing radars is very expensive....how are they going to get the money to pay for it? Their money has to come from somewhere?
You can't be this dense. It's a necessary public service (especially for rural businesses) only offered through private companies. The lines are expensive to run, so the phone company doesn't do it unless they have enough customers in an area to justify it. We finally got broad band a few years ago, and I'm fairly close to Lincoln. If you live in a tiny rural community, or on a farm or a ranch (most of our state) you're still dependent on satellite, which goes out every time it snows or rains.
If the NWS is privatized, they'll only do what's profitable vs. what's actually needed. That's the nature of private business--you do what you do to make a profit. I'm a business owner and I don't have a problem with that, but it's also why I understand that some services should be public if they meet a critical need.
If you believe that internet is necessary then you have bigger issues than we thought
Quote:
Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie
Yeah, if you're in California where the weather hardly ever changes for the worse.
Tell that to the mountains and North Coast of California....... here is a thought to those (like you) who don't know the country very well..... there is uch more to California besides San Diego
Now that I have cleared up a portion of ignorance.... no we don't need a NATIONAL weather service...... we already have educated meteorologists in every state and most towns and cities. Last I checked, the weather forecast done by local meteorologists was done on the neat invention known as television.....
Ok....next spring....your company is in charge of providing a flood forecast for spring snow melt in Grand Forks ND. Would your private company all be in Ohio or would you have separate centers? You have a staff that can run river models....you will need staff to talk with the USGS on streamflow measurements in the Red and its tributaries.... Now you have all that info for Grand Forks. You are going to do a forecast -- are you going to give it to Grand Forks for free or the city must pay for the client's services. Right that Ohio company clients all pay for its services. It will give the city of Grand Forks flood services for free?
I worked at Accu Weather and know how it was in the early 90s. Meridian is locally and we have had people who work there here at our office...same goes for several other institutions. I do know 100 pct of what I am talking about.
Who held the hands of people like you before the government took over everything? How ever did they manage to survive?
Wow!
Last edited by KS_Referee; 05-25-2013 at 12:56 AM..
Initially radar and satellites belonged to the military, and forecasting was researched in universities.
That was because the all knowing government outlawed civilians from having it. They didn't want others to have the technology. For them it was and still is primarily a strategic defensive technology. Weather is only secondary on the government's mind when it comes to radar.
Now, just about every tv station in any decent sized market has their own radar, or they pay for a radar provider service.
And STILL to this day, even with all the money thrown at the NWS & NOAA, they can NOT accurately predict weather 5 days out. Because every passing 15 minutes of prediction must lie upon a foundation of predictions that can, and quite often do miss their original predicted markers, and the issue of errors can compound at an exponential rate.
What the NWS does well is relay the warnings to people watching tv or listening to the radio.
Our communicated warnings are direct to local and county EOCs (emergency operations centers), and THEY are the ONLY ones capable of sounding their sirens. I have personally been the cause of a tornado warning siren on several occasions. In those instances the National Weather Service issued their warning AFTER the coordinated EOC issued it's own warning & sounded the sirens.
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