Last Updated on June 13, 2017
I stumbled across an odd news report the other day about a new plan in Russia, referred by IOL, the biggest news, classifieds and info site on the Web in South Africa. (Don’t ask how I ended up there: I can’t begin to figure that out.)
Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu wants to hold Russian weathermen accountable for their forecasts. Weathermen who get their predictions wrong could face stiff fines. The minister was speaking in Irkutsk, which is on flood alert. He said he wanted weathermen to pay the price if they got forecasts wrong, because that led to emergency services being needlessly called out. “If there is a disaster we send rescuers and equipment and spend money. But weathermen hold no responsibility – and do not think about having to defend the population.”
Weathermen in Irkutsk have said the risk of flooding should subside soon. But according to Interfax, Shoigu “promised to squeeze compensation out of the weather forecasters if their forecasts proved wrong.”
You might think this is an excellent idea, and you might be ready to campaign for the same thing here. But I find it a little strange that anyone would expect even the best scientists to remain a step ahead of mother nature. Even the best scientific tools can’t always predict when severe weather will strike…or where, for that matter. It takes one nothing more than tuning in to the Weather Channel during the approach of a hurricane, during which the nation’s top storm experts display warning maps with long stripes of red several states wide pointing out where the storm might make landfall.
As for weathermen not thinking about having to “defend the population,” what are they there for if not to warn of storms or weather-related threats? It’s one thing to say, “It’ll be sunny with a high of 75.” But when there are no clouds in the sky, a meteorologist’s job is fairly easy. It’s when storm systems are moving through that the job becomes difficult: their viewers depend on them for information to stay safe when threatening weather approaches. And it’s information the viewers get from the weatherman much sooner than they’d ever get it from their government.
There are some things we just can’t know in advance…no matter how smart we think we are. I’m reminded of an old saying about not shooting the messenger…
