NWS and competition with other weather services

[gotoman38]

Interesting article on NWS and it's competition with non-governmental weather services

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=165702845

[Steve]

Fun read. But The Weather Channel is mostly garbage. All they do is run model maps and don't take any chances whatsoever. The only thing I trust them for is my Local on the 8's which is brought to me by my local NWS office.

>>Weather Channel executive VP of meteorology Raymond Ban, like many others in the private sector, agrees that the relationship between the government and the commercial weather industry needs to be rethought in keeping with the recommendations of the National Research Council, but he doesn't believe the Santorum bill is the answer. "As the private sector has continued to grow and evolve, all of a sudden the boundaries that seemed to be very comfortable and very well-suited 50 years ago aren't working anymore," he says. "Now the private sector has become very competent at performing a lot of things that used to be very well-suited for the public sector."

How is the private sector competent in this regard? Again, I submit that the Weather Channel takes no risks whatsoever. I only watch it sometimes because it's on. With the advent of weather on the web, I don't need to wait until x:50 to catch a generic tropical update. I get it any time I want.

Steve

[HouTXmetro]

Will the pvt companies charge us for stuff we have already paid for?

[dhweather]

Will the pvt companies charge us for stuff we have already paid for?

Yes.

[The Big Dog]

Oh geez... let's not get out the dead horse again.

[Guest]

The only thing I trust them for is my Local on the 8's which is brought to me by my local NWS office.

Hate to break it to you, but the Local on the 8's is the TWC forecast now. They did away with the NWS Zone FOrecast Product in 2000-2002 timeframe. The ONLY NWS data you recieve via TWC are weather warnings/watches.

Just look at the TWC forecast and compare it with the NWS Zone Forcast Product. You will notice a difference in wording and, to tell you the truth, a MUCH accurate forecast (courtesy of the NWS).

[EDR1222]

There forecasts are definately different for my area as opposed to the information I get from NWS Melbourne. Our local office is by far much more accurate with the forecasts than the ones put out by TWC.

[kevin]

Its more accurate to say that the private companies compete with the NWS, as the NWS has been around since ancient times (18-- I forget the year).

[tndefender]

Those of us who are pleased with the NWS new policy (basically creating ways to make its information even more available to the public should write their senators and express opposition to Rick Santorum's bill.

Isn't this the same senator who opined that Boston experienced a catholic priest child sex scandal because it was such a "liberal" city?

[Downdraft]

Will the pvt companies charge us for stuff we have already paid for?

They have already done that. They used to charge you for real-time NEXRAD services when in fact YOU as a taxpayer paid for the program to begin with. Amazing that public tax dollars built a system that your own government wouldn't let you have for free but made you pay for through private sellers. I have absolutely nothing against the private sector showing they can do things better than the government does. An excellent example is Weathertap.com. While they provide nothing really new that can't be found on the web they provide it in a manner that makes the convenience of the package worth buying.

[Steve]

>>Hate to break it to you, but the Local on the 8's is the TWC forecast now. They did away with the NWS Zone FOrecast Product in 2000-2002 timeframe. The ONLY NWS data you recieve via TWC are weather warnings/watches.

You should have left me in fantasy land then . Now there's almost no reason to watch it.

Steve