Top Swiss meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann blasts the quality of modern weather information in Germany, warning that 80-90% of weather stories found in the online media are “false information” or even “made-up nonsense”, and feels his field has become “a hoard of anarchy.”
Swiss meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann. Photo source: https://weather.us/
Yesterday here I reported how veteran Swiss meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann, 59, called the blaming of single weather events on climate change “complete idiocy”.
The quality of weather reporting and information, and the overall knowledge of natural sciences, have gotten so bad in Germany, according to Kachelmann, that he felt compelled to comment at the online Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ). He wrote (link added by author):
In matters concerning natural sciences, a collective educational precariat rules.”
Meaning: when it comes to knowledge of natural sciences, and especially meteorology, Germany is in trouble, and the citizens are being terribly disinformed.
Excessive, click-baiting media hype
One of the major reasons behind the destructive development, according to Kachelmann, is all the “nonsense” that gets reported by the media concerning the weather.
One example is the often-made claim today that severe thunderstorms or heavy downpours are linked to “climate change”. What in the past used to be just called a storm or bad weather, now gets recorded by countless mobile devices and sent to some studio, where it is hyped and sold as a 100-year event of Biblical proportions.
“Anarchy” ruling day-to-day weather reports
Kachelmann comments how today one often finds weather tips in the German media, e.g. for golfers and mountaineers, but which are in fact “complete idiocy”. Much of the nonsense, the Swiss meteorologist believes, is driven by the media’s insatiable appetite for clicks. “There’s anarchy in the weather report,” Kachelmann writes.
Today every north wind in the wintertime gets dubbed the “Siberian whip!” or every warm summer breeze from the south now gets labelled as a “Saharan heat wave!”, he describes.
Meteorology has become a hoard of anarchy
Kachelmann’s observations are spot on. But we could add that the rush to crank out sensational headlines is not limited to tabloids, but also flagship media outlets and once renowned weather and climatological institutes, who are now getting into the click-baiting, attention-seeking extreme weather frenzy.
For example “renowned” institutes are increasingly linking foul weather to climate change, and warn things are only going to get worse! “We’re toast!” the AP once warned, citing serious scientists.
“80 to 90% false information” …”or made up”
In Kachelmann’s view the field of meteorology has deteriorated so much that he comments at HAZ:
It’s truly a drama: Today 80 to 90 percent of the weather stories in the German online media are false information or often freely made-up nonsense. My science has become a hoard of anarchy.”
He adds:
The absence of knowledge about nature allows every nonsense to be printed — in order to generate clicks — yet not be recognized as such.”
So why has the German citizenry become so disinformed?
Kachmann points to the educational system, where children are allowed to bypass natural science classes at schools. He comments at HAZ:
It is breathtaking what only a few decades and the allowance to skip school subjects can do to a country that, at least in folksongs, was long familiar with storms.”
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Jörg Kachelmann runs Kachelmannwetter.com and, in cooperation with Dr. Ryan Maue, weather.us. He was formerly the meteorologist for flagship ARD German television.
via NoTricksZone
June 16, 2018 at 07:26AM
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