So Much for Most Accurate

WPEC Weather Anchor John Matthews

WPEC Weather Anchor John Matthews

The stations in West Palm Beach love to crow about how great and accurate their weather forecast are.

So when record flooding hit the area, which Weather Anchor predicted the flooding most accurately?

The answer is none of them.

Gossip Extra writes that outraged TV viewers flooded the email boxes of the local weather forecasters late last week after none of the total 14 so-called “severe weather specialists” on WPTV-Channel 5, WPEC-Channel 12 and WPBF-Channel 25 saw the epic flood coming.

WPTV’s Chief Meteorologist Steve Weagle took to the airwaves Friday to half-heartedly explain what had happened.

Weagle admitted to facing irate viewers and nasty emails from folks in and around Palm Beach County who ended up in waist-high water.

“It was simply impossible to predict,” Weagle said on the air.

Gossip Extra reached out to the three main local forecasters — Weagle, WPBF’s Mike Lyons and CBS12′s John Matthews — but they all seemed too busy to respond to interview requests.

Each of the three main TV stations advertise heavily why their weather predictions are the most accurate, and why viewers should trust one station over another in case of, say, a hurricane.

One local meteorologist who asked not to be identified by name confirmed Weagle’s claim that no one could have warned area residents of Friday’s early morning downpours.

Rising waters caused two deaths, closed public schools, stranded motorists, flooded businesses, caused electrical outages and shut down I-95.

“Look,” the TV personality said, “even the National Weather Service had no idea this would happen. We all put out Friday morning that there’d be heavy rains, but this was a once-in-100-years event.

“We forecast the warm front accurately, but there was a low pressure just sitting in the ocean and what happened was the result of the two coming in close contact.

“But, I mean, this was a 12-hour rain event. Forecasting the weather is not an exact science.”

No matter how many times the stations promote that it is.