Do we still need weather forecasters?

ars technica article about the evolution of forecasting.

Good article. I’ve been wondering the same thing for awhile now. But for some reason, I still watch the weather on the local news…lol

I think that until we are able, at least here in the UK, to access timely data for programs such as WXSim sadly the answer is yes.

One issue which does exist at least with professional forecasts here from the likes of the BBC and UKMO is that there are far more general than people expect. On the BBC local news for the south east area covering mainly Kent Sussex and Surrey often says things like potential rain showers but with a caveat that not everyone will see one, so people organise their day expecting rain across all 3 counties but then never see one. My local area forecast using WXSim for the area about 10-20 miles around often turns out to be accurate when looking back after the event. A lot of folks just don’t understand how general a forecast will be for the 3 counties. I suspect in places like the USA having so much more really local broadcasting the provided forecasts may be more specific to a smaller area.

Stuart

For those who wish to rely on what is the Forecast that someone else gives is just fine.
For those of us that have or are learning to forecast on our own it is a place of information to check how well we are doing and to judge our accuracy
I much prefer to use my own judgment as I do find that I can be much more accurate to the media forecasters.
IMHO