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Wet Wx Caster
Wed Jul 21, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
When you're a TV weather forecaster, you tend to hear from viewers when your
prediction doesn’t quite live up to their expectations. Bob Henson reports on what the
weathercaster is up against.
BH: "How much rain or snow will fall?" is not a simple question when you're a TV
meteorologist. Take Gary Lezak of KSHB in Kansas City, where rainfall and snowfall
seem especially fickle. Lezak says they demand more accuracy when it comes to
snowfall.
GZ: Snow forecasting is the biggest challenge, the biggest reward, and trying to
pinpoint the exact amount.
BH: Says Lezak, people can judge your forecast just by looking at the ground.
GZ: You might say 3 to 5 inches of snow's gonna fall, and it snows all day but it doesn't
accumulate, they think we totally blew it and then the e-mails come in, and then I have
to explain we really didn't miss this by much, it was just one degree warmer than we
thought so the snow didn't accumulate [laugh]. Things like that people may not
understand.
BH: In the summer, the public can be more forgiving, says Lezak, as long as they know
whether to cancel that picnic or not. One system this spring proves his point.
GZ: A front was stalling right near Kansas City, and I thought the heavy thunderstorms
were going to be right along that front.
GZ: Well, what happened? The front went to the south. The heavy rain was about
75-100 miles south of our viewing area, but did I hear about that from viewers? No!
Most people believe I got the forecast right. I said 2-3 inches of rain may fall. Only one
inch of rain or less falls, but people perceive that as accurate.
BH: Unless, of course, says Lezak, you needed the 2-3 inches on your lawn.
Bob Henson hails (get it?) from Boulder, Colorado. The Weather Notebook rains down
with the help of the National Science Foundation and Subaru of America.
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