Fox News' Shepard Smith claims that the National Weather Service lied

[Bama Ravens]

about snow totals for places like NYC in the Blizzard a couple of days ago. Some places got less snow than predicted, while others got what was predicted. The NWS opted not to change the forecast, though they knew totals might be lower, because they feared changing them at the last minute would cause confusion for the public and people would let their guard down. Reasonable explanation in my opinion.

Not for Shepard Smith, who claimed that the National Weather Service was purposefully misinforming the public.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/that...-service-lied-to-us-over-blizzard-prediction/

The thing is, Shepard Smith, and other people who are being critical because there was less snow in some areas than predicted, don't actually know what it takes to put together a forecast for a major weather event like this. The communication involved is immense, as each NWS office in that region had to communicate to put together concise forecasts.

 

[jasonechols]

If there is one thing we have learned in recent years...its that Shep Smith is a provider of fake news. His ratings are struggling and he is losing his mind.

His motto is "Make news where there ain't news."

 

[Kory]

about snow totals for places like NYC in the Blizzard a couple of days ago. Some places got less snow than predicted, while others got what was predicted. The NWS opted not to change the forecast, though they knew totals might be lower, because they feared changing them at the last minute would cause confusion for the public and people would let their guard down. Reasonable explanation in my opinion.

Not for Shepard Smith, who claimed that the National Weather Service was purposefully misinforming the public.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/that...-service-lied-to-us-over-blizzard-prediction/

The thing is, Shepard Smith, and other people who are being critical because there was less snow in some areas than predicted, don't actually know what it takes to put together a forecast for a major weather event like this. The communication involved is immense, as each NWS office in that region had to communicate to put together concise forecasts.

That's a slippery slope there. Do we now overestimate forecasts, because the public can't discern what the threat is from the actual storm? I don't think that's the answer.

Mesoscale models were beginning to downtrend the snowfall totals for the big cities along the I-95 corridor about 36 hours ahead of the onset. That is a part of meteorology....refining forecasts up until onset of the storm (and even during). But I don't think that is a good excuse the NWS gave and it sets a rather dubious precedent.

As for Shepard Smith....he lost all credibility after Hurricane Matthew.

 

[MichelleH]

Shepard Smith, like many others, is a disgrace to real journalism. He wouldn't know real journalism if it came up and bit him on the butt!!

 

[warneagle]

That's a slippery slope there. Do we now overestimate forecasts, because the public can't discern what the threat is from the actual storm? I don't think that's the answer.

Mesoscale models were beginning to downtrend the snowfall totals for the big cities along the I-95 corridor about 36 hours ahead of the onset. That is a part of meteorology....refining forecasts up until onset of the storm (and even during). But I don't think that is a good excuse the NWS gave and it sets a rather dubious precedent.

As for Shepard Smith....he lost all credibility after Hurricane Matthew.

[

I guess their rationale is that the message of "decreasing threat" might cause people not to take things as seriously? I understand that you want to present people with the worst case scenario so that they're prepared for that possibility. I agree that it's a bad precedent, though. Inaccurate information, even if it prompts the appropriate public action, still undermines the credibility of the forecast. They would never do that with a hurricane, for example.

 

[Lori]

I used to respect the man but over the years, I feel he'd be happier (as would conservatives) at another network plus, I'd love to see his met degree....

 

[SilentShadow87]

So is this an issue of politics or is Smith just jumping at any opportunity to smear the competition? Sorry for my relative ignorance of the people behind American news, you're dealing with a Canadian here

 

[Mike S]

I think most anytime a major network journalist tries to talk about the weather they show their ignorance on the subject. How many times have we heard about storms predicted days in advance striking "without warning"?

These channels all employ meteorologists, let them handle the weather stuff.

 

[Lori]

So is this an issue of politics or is Smith just jumping at any opportunity to smear the competition? Sorry for my relative ignorance of the people behind American news, you're dealing with a Canadian here

Not a competition smear as much as Smith has gone "rogue" the past few months, I understand his not agreeing with Trump but he is on the more conservative news channel Fox and he's not reading from the script anymore. Even though America continues to become more weather savvy, we still have those that like to use an authoritative voice on matters of weather and they end up looking ridiculous and giving out false information. Making the NWS look like liars could actually cause people to lose their lives due to trusting this man's opinion and not heeding the professionals. It's very reckless behavior for someone reporting the news.

 

[PerryW]

Shep Smith provided false ans misleading weather informatuion during the blizzard last week and it was embrarrassing to me.