Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

kevin.myatt
@roanoke.com
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Weather with Kevin Myatt

Recent columns

• We got graupel, but not on official record
• Moisture could get caught up in cold blast
• Forecast for Weather Journal: Partly print, with frequent Internet
• Column archive

Read the Weather Journal blog

• Sprinkles or flurries possible Tuesday, but maybe something bigger for the weekend?
• For now, it looks like a quiet, mostly mild week ahead for SW Virginia
• Coldest morning of winter so far likely across much of Southwest Virginia; Tuesday precipitation looking doubtful
• Weather Journal blog

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"It must be nice to have a job where you can be wrong half the time and not get fired."

I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard that line fired at meteorologists.

It might be fun to say when a promised snow fails to happen or thunderstorms disrupt a day that was supposed to be dry, but it's simply not true. Most research shows modern weather forecasts are about 80 percent accurate. It's just that we only remember the times when the forecasts are wrong, and these play much bigger in our minds.

In truth, modern meteorology is saving hundreds if not thousands of lives every year through early warning and detection of violent storms.

You may know the names of some meteorologists on television, both locally and nationally, but the majority of meteorologists are like the majority of Americans who do day-to-day jobs without ever being widely known by the public. They've trained many years for their work and most share an intense passion for the weather, but they also go home to take care of families, pay bills and work in the yard.

On Tuesday, some of the meteorologists who work at the National Weather Service in Blacksburg will meet the public at the Roanoke Civic Center.

If you're into weather even a smidgen, this will be a rare opportunity to hear trained and experienced professionals not only talk about weather, but also show films and slides of various kinds of weather that can affect our area.

More importantly, it will be a chance to ask questions and make comments about what the weather service offers to the public.

You may or may not know what that is. If you don't, go online to www.erh.noaa.gov/rnk/ sometime and take a look.

While many entities offer their own local forecasts, the National Weather Service is the only one authorized to issue severe weather warnings. That can be a challenging task. Fire off too many warnings, and the public doesn't take heed. Fail to issue a warning on a particularly severe storm, and lives are in danger.

But don't be afraid to bring your hard questions to the weather service meteorologists ... something you can't figure out or something you think they did wrong. A big part of their job is not only educating the public about weather, but also answering questions and criticisms.

And they might have some funny stories to tell. Most weather geeks have a sense of humor, too.