The chairman of the Dan yr Ogof group of tourist attractions in South Wales is threatening to sue Britain’s National Weather Service over “misleading predictions of bad weather which later do not materialize … Forecasts of Good Friday snow for the Swansea Valley area saw a rash of booking cancellations at the attraction, he said. But while coach parties [= tour buses] made other arrangements, the day turned out to be one of blazing sun and blue skies, although quite cold.” [Press Association/Yahoo; Sarah Rae Fruchtnicht, Opposing Views]
4 Comments
In Italy, the weatherman might have been subject to criminal prosecution:
http://www.nature.com/news/shock-and-law-1.11643
Not sure if they should technically be subject to prosecution, but I would love to see some improved accuracy. I’ve seen forecasts that are laughably inaccurate, even within 24 hours.
It’s all so idiotic. First, remember the expression: “God’s got a sense of humor. Just take a look all around you.” Then apply that to this situation: We try to predict the weather, and sometimes things change that cause those predictions to go awry. To hold someone criminally or civilly liable is absurd, unless you’ve made some kind of legally binding contract with the person providing that prediction, which would obviously be really stupid to make.
What is a weather reporter supposed to do, provide some kind of legal disclaimer at the end of the forecast?
Same thing happened in Belgium last year. Scientists predict a lot of things we don’t like, for example that everyone will die, even those who were born with an Apgar score of 10. And due to the chaotic character of weather systems, predictions are as good as those of stock prices.