Watching The Weatherpeople

During this time of year, the local meteorologists are second only to snow-plow operators as the most important members of our society. With the tweak of a rain-snow line, our mood can either improve, or deteriorate.

Since there is only the court of public opinion to hold these professionals accountable, we’ve decided to document our favorite local weatherperson’s performance, starting with this weekend’s impending nor’easter.

The following forecasts are from the stations’ websites at about 12:30 p.m. on Friday. It seems that WBZ and WCVB both pick their online forecasts up from the National Weather Service, so we’ve included their graphics to differentiate.

Channel 4
Saturday Night – Cloudy. Snow likely after midnight. Little or no snow accumulation. Lows around 20. Northeast winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 70 percent.

Sunday – Rain…snow and sleet in the morning…then rain in the afternoon. Precipitation may be heavy at times in the morning. Additional moderate snow accumulation. Windy with highs in the upper 30s. East winds 15 to 25 mph…becoming northeast 25 to 30 mph in the afternoon. Gusts up to 45 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Channel 5
Saturday Night: cloudy. Snow likely after midnight. Little or no snow accumulation. Lows around 20. Northeast winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 70 percent.

Sunday: rain, snow and sleet in the morning, then rain in the afternoon. Precipitation may be heavy at times in the morning. Additional moderate snow accumulation. Windy with highs in the upper 30s. East winds 15 to 25 mph, becoming northeast 25 to 30 mph in the afternoon. Gusts up to 45 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Channel 7
Saturday Night: Snow moves in after midnight. Winds pick up. Lows near 20.

Sunday: Snow changes to sleet, then rain. The thinking of who will see the changeover is in the special map above. Windy with gusts up near 40-50 mph.

Channel 25
This is a station of few words. On the Forecasts page, there is a short explanation under an icon.

Rain / Snow Mix
Windy 80%
Chance of Snow
and or rain

Nobody is willing to be the first to make a snowfall total prediction, probably because they fear eliciting death threats from viewers still thawing out from last night’s long haul home. But WHDH is the first to commit to a rain-snow changeover line. We’ll check back in on Monday to see if the whole thing changed over to rain, or if we’re blogging from home because we can’t open our front door.