Blogtrek

Weather Report Errors

It is sometimes interesting to listen to TV weather personnel give their weather report on the six o'clock news (AM and PM) and on the Weather Channel, although I have not looked at that much lately. When thunderstorms come, they march (as though they had feet) or roll (as though they had wheels), or they are popcorn. They will say when a cold spell comes that temperatures are headed south, even though temperatures are usually warmer to the south. They will say that storms check out, although it seems they never try to collect the bill, like any hotel would. They even go to the extent of trying to use a broom to sweep away pesky clouds on the satellite map that have been making several days in a row cloudy.

But at least they should do it without errors. I notice that when they venture outside weather, say to astronomy, they can make mistakes. For example, once I heard one say that the time it takes the Earth to go around the Sun is 365.24 days. That is not true. It takes 365.2564 days. Besides, that's not what he is really talking about; he meant the year, which is not the time it takes for the earth to go around the sun. The year we live by is the time it takes the seasons to repeat. That is indeed 365.2422 days. The two differ by precession, which takes the vernal equinox all the way around the ecliptic or zodiac in 26,000 years.

He then said that leap year is not always every 4 years. Actually, it is, usually. It is true except for some century years. He then said that every 400 years we skip a leap year. That isn't true, either. He is talking about the century rule. Among century years, it is actually every 400 years that is a leap year, not every 400 years that it is isn't. The other century years are common years. Specifically, if a year is a century year, it has to be divisible by 400 to be a leap year. This means that 2000 was a leap year, but 1900 wasn't.

Newscasters and weathermen, this is a place where you can clear up the fog of confusion about science. Tell how it really is, and that will help clear the fog.