When to Actually Trust the Meteorologist

A meteorologist’s job is to essentially read weather patterns and predict weather. The truth is, they do tend to be right…most of the time. So when do you trust the weather news and when do you take it with a grain of salt? Here are some tips on reading the weather and becoming your own weather expert!

• Don’t waste time watching the weather report since being transfixed by the colour-coded graphics that show wavy masses doesn’t tend to explain if you should plan on getting your snow plowed or not. Instead, catch the weather reporter actually reporting from outside and take note of how many scarves he/she is wearing.

Huh?

• Don’t follow meteorologists’ on Twitter as they tend to spread wide spread panic as soon as they mention “snow” in their tweet. Snow is only scary when 5 to 10 cm and minus in Canada or 5 inches and low 20’s in the US are mentioned in the same sentence. This means that the snow will accumulate substantially and it will not melt right away – which may cause snow-mageddon conditions i.e. icy roads.

• Don’t trust the long term forecast as weather patterns can change fairly quickly – even a 1 or 2 degree difference can lead to snow showers.

So what can you really do to see if it’s in fact, snowing and an “actual” cause for concern.

• First, don’t panic.
• Second, Google “[your city] weather” and click on precipitation. Scroll through up to 5 days. If you see the graph go over 70%, then it’s snowing!!
• Next, if you see snow in the next 24 to 48 hours, then go to theweathernetwork.com and click on the hourly report to find the exact time it will start and stop snowing and how much will actually fall.

If you would rather live in a snow-free world and avoid it completely, you can opt to get “Weather Advisory” notifications sent to your email for your area. These tend to be sent a day or two before the weather change so just as helpful and checking yourself.

Here’s a few more app recommendations for you.

• A fun and quirky way to get your weather forecast delivered by email – Poncho.
• Detailed reports just like on TV – The Weather Network App for Mac.
• The prettiest weather app if you want a visual representation – it actually won an Apple design award – Yahoo Weather.

What apps do you use to plan your day? Tell us in the comment below.