Shades of Mediocrity

The National Weather Service: a threat to the American Way?

I'm an oh-so-typical Minnesotan in at least one regard: I'm obsessed with the weather. But some of our friendly Congresscritters (led by Rick "man-on-dog" Santorum of Pennsylvania) want to strike a blow against weather junkies everywhere, by making it illegal for the National Weather Service to compete with non-governmental weather forecasters like AccuWeather and The Weather Channel. What does it mean? Among the possibilities are that NWS would have to stop offering forecast and climate information on its website, and that its forecasters would have to stop granting interviews to news organizations that want a little in-depth exploration of trends like drought or dangerous weather.

The NWS would still be allowed to provide warnings when hazardous weather, like a tornado or a hurricane, is imminent. (What a relief!) But as one NWS administrator says, "If someone claims that our core mission is just warning the public of hazardous conditions, that's really impossible unless we forecast the weather all the time," Johnson said. "You don't just plug in your clock when you want to know what time it is."

So here it is, fellow citizens: our tax dollars at work. If this bill becomes law, the National Weather Service will continue to collect and analyze weather and climate data, so they can warn us when something really bad is about to happen. But if you want to see that data that you've already paid your fair share to see produced, you're out of luck. Way to go, Congresscritters.