Cloudy, with a vanishing small chance of triple sevens
Posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago at 15:00. 0 comments
Anyone who was curious how budget cuts might influence a major government program need look no further than the Meteorological Service of Canada, the sub-agency of Environment Canada responsible for, among other things, tracking weather and climate for all of Canada.
The Meteorological Service’s long-range forecast accuracy has been terrible for a while, but lately they’ve been having trouble with day-to-day and even intra-day predictions.
For example, I’m interested in the weather for tonight because it determines first of all whether my ultimate game will even be played, but also whether it makes any sense to bring my son with me. Sitting in the rain for 2 hours does not make for a happy 3-year old. Since I began checking last Friday, the forecast has changed *at least* once a day, and I’m not talking by a degree or two. I’m describing full-blown changes as to whether it will be sunny or rainy…and then the opposite change back again less than 24 hours later. I know we’ve screwed up the planet’s climate something fierce, but honestly, I might as well just look out the window tonight when it’s time to go to the game.
I know there are other sources for weather information, but my wife works for Environment Canada, so there’s some brand loyalty at play. In a broader context, the implications for the larger objectives of the Meteorological Service, namely monitoring climate, atmospheric science, air quality, ice and other environmental issues (to quote their website) are pretty scary if they can’t even get the weather right.
