ONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION – or at least the sarcastic
comments freely shared by so many – forecasting the weather is not easy.
Just ask WHAS11's Chief Meteorologist Ben Pine.
During a recent spate of winter weather, Pine stayed up for 34 hours straight
trying to predict accumulations, wind chills, precipitation forms and
dangerous situations for viewers and those eagerly following along online.
Even good weather can mean long hours. Meteorologists also are lifelong students who have to
study daily to keep up on the ever-evolving changes in technology, trends and the and times.
Yet, no matter how good you are at your craft, no matter how accurate, every meteorologist
errs at some point when trying to forecast the future. When that happens, a mistaken forecast
can be incredibly serious, though that's rare, thankfully. More likely, a wrong prediction leads
to nothing more than grumbling viewers (You said it wasn't going to rain but it did for an hour!
Snow? It's 50 degree and sunny today!) who wonder (post, Tweet, joke) if meteorology is more
guesswork than grueling hard work (it's the latter).
BEING BEN
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