Meteorologists on TV spend most of their time talking about how the weather is right now, right outside. And progress for TV weather often looks like more accurate reporting of the current precipitation, temperature and windspeed, along with nicer graphics.
That’s not the same as actually predicting what the weather will be tomorrow. We can probably agree that more granularity in how the weather is right now isn’t particularly interesting.
It’s an easy trap to fall into, because spending time on what’s provably true is way less risky than deciding what’s important and using it to predict the future.
Our best work involves sorting the important from the rest, along with bringing a point of view and experience to complicated problems. Problems that are interesting because there isn’t a proven, correct answer.
The wind chill factor is best left to an automated device.
We don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, but figuring out how it’s going to blow tomorrow is a great skill.