Meteorologists save Sunday-Funday

We love to hate meteorologists.  We say, “it’s the only job where you can be wrong 75% of the time and still keep your job”.  But our minds are primed to remember the negative, and I doubt those numbers are accurate.  Would Brad Panovich have such a following if he really was wrong 75% of the time?  (are you a fanovich?)  One of the things I love about Brad Panovich (besides his ample communication and explanations of weather happenings), is that he owns it when he gets it wrong.  And explains why. However, I’m not here today to fangirl over one particular meteorologist.

I’m here today to say: I’ve never been more impressed with the weather predictions than I was yesterday.  We (a group of lazy river enthusiasts) try to lazy float in tubes down one of our local rivers once a month each summer.  We missed June because June didn’t June like it normally Junes and 3 hours with butts in the river at this year’s June temps was just going to be unpleasant.  And this was my only available Sunday in July.  So admittedly, part of my sudden meteorologist trust was born of a desperation to dwell in the laughter and ease that is a lazy tube float.

But the prediction was: storms, some of them nasty, in the a.m., clearing between noon and 1p.m. (our usual put-in time) with temperatures in the low to mid 80s (pretty perfect float weather), then clouding up again in the evening with a few scattered thunderstorms.

It looked nasty in the morning.  There were some skeptics, but most of us hung on as I did my best to spread my (sudden? Newfound?) trust in the meteorologists.  We left the farm- tubes, sunscreen and hats in hand-under cloudy cool conditions, but we trusted. And sure enough, just as we sat down in our tubes in the river, the clouds dissipated revealing a generous sun which lingered with us as we eased carefree down the river, bathed in the joy of just being and just being together.

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