Is all this verbiage really necessary??

[cairistiona]

This, from my local National Weather Service forecast:

"A chance of showers and thunderstorms before midnight, then periods of showers and possibly a thunderstorm between midnight and 3am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3am."

Is there any reason they couldn't have simply said, "Chances of showers and thunderstorms all night"? Am I missing some subtle bit of meteorological protocol here???

*iz confused but fairly certain it will rain, either before midnight, between midnight and 3 am, and after 3 am*

Comments

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

They obviously need a good beta!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they'll hire me!

[shirebound]

LOL, they obviously have their salaries set by how well they meet their quota of wordage.

Like you, I suspect it will (or will not) rain.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

LOL! I think you must be right.

And they were at least 100% correct regarding the "before midnight"... it's been raining all evening. With some thunderstorms.

[ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com]

*giggles*

Is it cold over there?

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Isn't that silly??

And thankfully, no, it's not particularly cold. It'll stay in the 50F's all night before the rain finally moves out and it gets a little bit colder for the first half of the week. No snow for us yet.

[ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Oh my, I envy you so much right now! Our average winter temperatures are between 5 and 10C, which would be from 41 to 50F. But for the whole week, we are between 0 and -8C, which is between 32 and 17F! And no, it's not only cold, but we also have very strong wind. *thud*
And, btw, in the mountains and continental parts of Croatia it's even colder!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

That's actually what our winters usually are like... highs only around freezing and lows at night some 20 degrees cooler. And yes, that wind! I've always thought cold wasn't all that bad so long as there was a cutting wind driving it into my bones! I hope it warms up for you before too long. *hands you wool blankies*

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

They obviously haven't heard about "short and sweet" either.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

They really haven't!

[jay-of-lasgalen.livejournal.com]

It'll probably rain tonight, and there might be a thunderstorm.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

*giggles madly* Now see, that's all they ever needed to say!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

We always laugh when the weather people said "a few places". Heheh, a lot of help there :)

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

LOL! Yes, a little specifics as to whether you're in the "few places" would be nice, please!

[radbooks.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking they get paid by the word!! Maybe they really have to do it in three hour chunks like that. But I like my first thought better. :)

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I like your first thought better, too. LOL If I ever go on another tour of the NWS station during one of their open houses, I'm going to ask!

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

*heh* Meteorologically speaking, there is a difference between the two, but yes, in this case it would have made more sense to apply some common sense to the published forecast...

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Yep, big difference between a "shower" and a "thunderstorm" but I fail to catch the subtleties of their dividing it into 3-hour segments like that. LOL

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

I think the three-hour segments may be just the way they do the calculations for the predictions, but I actually meant the difference between 'chance of' and 'periods of'.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see... yes, there is a difference, I suppose, in that "periods" imply the rain is more widespread and probable (or so I assume). But it's still strangely worded... and ironically, it had stopped raining by the time the "periods of" segment started. Ah well. It did rain, so they did at least get that right.

[nefhiriel.livejournal.com]

LOL. That's great. Maybe it has something to do with the faint difference in terminology: first there's a chance of rain, then there's a few periods of showers and possibly a thunderstorm, and then we're back to a chance after 3am.

Makes all the sense in the world. XD

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

That seems to have been Nath's thoughts as well and could very well be the case. And as I told her, for all their cautious wording, they missed the "period" of rain as it came before midnight anyway! LOL