THE WEATHER REPORT

The transition from radio to television has left me confused concerning the weather report. When it is radio (then and now), the weather person gives me the forecast: hot or cold, rain or shine, wind, snow and such. I listen carefully and I know the expected weather.

When it is television the weather person has a big map of the area where we live… say a 50-mile radius… and writes down in 10-15-mile increments the weather in each city and town. This may involve a dozen or more entries. Then one by one the weather person reads these while pointing to each city. Rarely is there a differential of more than 3-4 degrees unless the map goes into mountainous or costal areas. So, City A will be 84 high and 58 low, City B 83 high and 57 low and City C 85 high and 59 low and so on for 15 cities. This goes on until the map is covered and then a chart pops up showing each day for a week with these same numbers… Monday, 84 high and 58 low, Tuesday 83 high and 58 low… for a week.

If the map shows us each city and the high and low for our city (which is 2 degrees difference from the city six miles away… maybe), why does a weather person need to tell me what is visible on the screen and point to it while talking? This does keep me confused… so, I better go watch the weather report before I listen to an announcer tell me that a quarterback threw the ball and a wide receiver caught it while I watched it and saw what happened while he told me what happened.

“He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.” Jesus