It is not as if the poor weatherperson doesn't have enough to worry about. It seems that almost anything can -- and often does -- happen with the weather, and the "anonymous weatherman" always gets the blame (is there anything like "weather forecasting malpractice"?).And now yet another challenge for weather forecasters...how to account for turbulent wind patterns caused by wind farms.
You may think this is a joke, but it is not according to a recent Associated Press story. As reported by the Associated Press, "The massive spinning blades affixed to towers 200 feet high can appear on Doppler radar like a violent storm or even a tornado. The phenomenon has affected several National Weather Service radar sites in different parts of the country, even leading to a false tornado alert near Dodge City, Kansas."
The AP story quoted Dave Zaff, an operations and science officer with the National Weather Service, who said, "If you take a glance [at the radar] and then all of the sudden you see red, you might issue an incorrect warning as a result."
Oh boy. Yet another thing to worry about in terms of wind farms. Surely there must be some national association of weather forecasters who can take on this issue -- something along the lines of "Ban Wind Turbines; Promote Better Forecasting" might be an apt campaign slogan.
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