Why are there so many meteorologists? I hate to suggest that anyone is, as they say across the pond, redundant. I suppose, also, that our TV weather-people, charming and pretty, toss interesting tidbits our way, whatever the weather.
But, all the forecasts are alike, for an airport on the other side of town. NOAA will extrapolate its internet forecast for the latitude and longitude of my driveway. For free. For a local TV forecast, I pay by watching endless car dealer commercials so that the station can afford the median meteorologist salary of $90,000 (salary.com). In these days of lean and mean business models, what do the media outlets get from their weather-people that I can’t get with a smartphone? Why has email pushed the US Postal Service toward bankruptcy, but media outlets can still afford meteorology staffs?