Weather Or Not

Wednesday night I attended a prolonged rain delay courtesy of the remnants of Hurricane Frances. I had hoped to watch a baseball game, but instead I got to see a glimpse of a tropical depression. This would not have bothered me quite as much if even one local or national weather agency suggested a steady three hours or so of rainfall before the game.

Having tickets to this contest, I had some additional interest in the weather that evening. I checked all the national and local forecasts. 99% of them suggested nothing more than a partly cloudy evening. This was as late as an hour before the game. Now, having learned from previous experience, I kept looking at the national radar only to see this massive rain system heading right for Detroit. However, I was re-assured all day, rain was not coming.

The closest thing I got to an admission of an oncoming tropical depression, was a forecaster that hinted indeed some rain might pop up, here and there, but nothing too bad. In his defense, the rain wasn't horrible. It was just wonderfully consistent. It started about six thirty and ended, well, I don't know when it ended. I left the would-be seven o'clock game after two and a half hours.

What gets me is that didn't everyone see this rather significant storm heading our way since, oh, I don't know, a week ago? It's not like I live in Florida and you just can't tell where the sucker is going to land. I'm in Michigan. It's five days later. It's been inland for almost a week.

It's not like this is some rain pattern that quickly developed out of nowhere. It's a stinking hurricane. They've been tracking it since it was in the Atlantic Ocean. Yet, these morons can't even tell me where it's going to rain a week later? Remember, these are weather experts. (If you want to be really scared, think of these "experts" as cousins to scientists.)

If they can't accurately predict an oncoming tropical storm, maybe it's time to stop guessing. Just leave a continuous radar screen on the television. Let us reach our own conclusions.