We, as meteorologists, shouldn't take ourselves so seriously? OK, tell that to the people who die every year through some weather related event.

It must take a great personality to say 26 people died yesterday due to a tornado that ripped through the city, but I gave you the forecast in a nice and pleasant manner. There are many meteorologists who can give you the science plus a great personality, such as Bob Ryan.

The last time I checked, weather was a science, such as Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Biology and so on. Would you want a doctor who had a mail-order degree, or someone who worked in a hospital for many years?

Now I do know some MSU people and I think, in the future, they will be great weather people, but a majority of them do not have the skills to forecast the weather. If you look at parts of the country where weather is important, such as the plains states, they have four if not more meteorologists on staff to predict the weather. Hopefully this trend will continue in the rest of the country and I will see the end to the word WEATHERCASTER.

Thank You,

Rich Hoffman
Meteorologist
BS, Atmospheric Science
NY University at Albany
WETM-TV 18 News
E-Mail: tvwxman@hotmail.com