OPINION: A little weather secret
Ellen Greenfield lives in Roslyn Heights.
When I was a child, my mother would turn on her transistor radio first thing in the morning to find out the weather report for the day. I asked why she didn't just look outside and see what was happening with the weather. But of course as a child, I was living in the moment, and not thinking if I would need a raincoat in the afternoon as I walked home from school.
Well, of course, we all turn into our parents and take on habits that we used to laugh about. So now I am a weather junkie in Roslyn Heights, just like my mother before me. But I have choices. On the radio, WCBS/880 AM on the eights, WINS / 1010 AM on the ones and WFUV / 90.7 FM on the hour. I can turn on a TV news program for a weather report or turn to a channel dedicated to nothing but weather, 24 hours a day.
Of course, I can always log on to the computer and get the day's forecast not only for Long Island, but anyplace in the world. I love watching Doppler radar and following the swirling green bands of moisture heading my way. If it's moving slowly east from Pennsylvania, I have six to eight hours before Long Island might get drenched.
However, as addicted as I am to following weather reports, I seldom follow their advice.
If I compare the stations, I usually find no two have the same forecast. Do I take the umbrella or leave it home? In the winter do I take snow boots with me if there is no sign of snow in the air? What's a person to do when the forecast is not 100 percent accurate?
Like everyone else, I need straightforward, reliable information. And I have figured out where to find it. If the forecast is for rain, I look out my window to my neighbor's car in his driveway. It's a beautiful red convertible. If the top is closed, I take an umbrella. If it's open, I plan for a sunny day.
So far, my neighbor has been right 100 percent of the time. I figure he knows something the forecasters don't know. If it works for him, why not let it work for me?
So whom would you trust, the weather stations that get so excited over any deviation in the day's forecast, or my neighbor, who isn't looking to ruin that beautiful convertible by leaving the top open to a possible storm?
So here's to looking out the window, the old-fashioned way, to find out what the weather will be like. As I always told my mother, "Why don't you just look outside?"
