Charley's Force Took Experts by Surprise (NOAA Covering It's Behind...)

AP ^ | 08/14/2004 | SnapperJK

[snapperjk]

Go to the link and read the rest of NOAA's back strokes!

[Texas Eagle]

"A lot of people think we can give them a near perfect forecast. We know we can't give them a near perfect forecast."

Who didn't know that? People aren't actually stuid enough to blame NOAA are they?

[Texas Eagle]

Lest I look stuid....stuid=stupid.

[DManA]

Computer models can't predict what a huricane will do 2 hours from now but they can predict the climate of the whole earth two decades from now. It's freeking magic.

[JulieRNR21]

FYI........Ping

[snapperjk]

... in a time of sadness, your humor speaks the sarcasm of truth. Amen.

[Fast1]

There was a Hurricane warning posted if you chose to Ignore then who can you blame?? I grew up in south Florida and these things are a part of life here..And you better respect them.

[txhurl]

If anybody is upset that NOAA didn't give them perfect Charley-avoidance advice, i.e. which hotels to avoid, they should visit Texas and Oklahoma in May and realize that days warning is luxurious, compared to 6 minutes warning for tornadoes.

[JulieRNR21]

Lookee here.......Ping

[Exit148]

(from the article: "We were not saying Tampa. We were saying the west coast of Florida," Berg said. The media's fixation with "Tampa, Tampa, Tampa," gave the public the wrong idea, he noted."

The media again!

Weather forecasting is NOT an exact science! I'm with NOAA on this.

[Felis_irritable]

Beat me by what, 5 minutes? The gloom and doomers would say that they can predict overall trends, but I still agree that if they can't predict a few thoudsand square miles' weather a day or two ahead, how can they predict the planet 50 years out?

BTW, my mother-in-law has a winter place close to Ft. Myers. She thinks it's OK, I think she's in denial. We'll find out in a day or two.

[Vob]

I wonder if what would happen if the global warming predictions were off by a small factor.

[jayef]

Exactly. I question the wisdom of anyone on the West Coast of Florida . . . especially anyone living in a mobile home . . . who didn't heed these warnings.

[JulieRNR21]

I have lived in TX and got few minutes warning of tornado.

I have lived in CA and got NO Warning of earthquake.

Several days warning of pending hurricane in FL is much better.

[myprecious]

It is just a shame that Charley failed to follow the careful instructions given by NOAA. The path and magnatude was clearly stated. The blame falls entirely on the non-compliant hurricane. Bad storm.

[dandi]

"All along, the hurricane center had issued warnings for coastal residents from the Keys all the way up to Tampa Bay, said hurricane center meteorologist Robbie Berg."

What, did the unfortunate folks of Punta Gorda think the hurricane was only a mile wide and would hit Tampa with the precision of a cruise missile? I was all the way up in Lake City and was ready to put on my boogie shoes. No way you can lay this at the feet of NOAA. Any city close to a hurricane's path needs to assume the worst and prepare accordingly.

[snapperjk]

Quote Exit148:

"(from the article: "We were not saying Tampa. We were saying the west coast of Florida," Berg said. The media's fixation with "Tampa, Tampa, Tampa," gave the public the wrong idea, he noted."
The media again!

"Weather forecasting is NOT an exact science! I'm with NOAA on this."

Exit148; "..not saying Tampa. We were saying the west coast of Florida". NOAA needs a geography lesson. It went straight NE and sliced through the state, through Orlando and exited in Daytona Beach! Daytona Beach is on the west coast of Florida? ...Please!..

[VA40]

Kinda like how they call it "fishing" and not "catching".

I lived my whole life in the Tidewater area of Virginia. The best weather forecast we can get here is by standing out in the backyard and looking around.

[rwfromkansas]

Some actually are stupid enough.

Although I will say that in the initial thread on the storm, I issued a wondering if the storm would go further south than predicted since it was obviously going more north/northeast than progged.

Still, blaming the NHC is idiotic. Hurricane tracking is NOT an exact science; it is one of the hardest forecasting areas, in fact...because even the slightest movement means a huge difference in who is impacted.

In this way, it is like perhaps one of the next-most difficult areas to forecast, snowstorms. Those are pains in the behind to forecast because being off even a tiny bit can make a huge difference to people like a hurricane. The number of things that can go wrong kind of is like hurricanes as well.