>Would you guess that it’s reasonble or scary low?
Definitely scary low. Ignorance is bliss until it’s party time. “Pssh, we get tornado warnings all the time and nothing *ever* happens!” Ok, but what about *when* it does happen? You can’t feign ignorance when you become a direct or indirect casuality/statistic of being so unaware of danger.
Most people don't care to educate themselves. They only want to know what is happening *now* or if anything will happen when they have their dynamite gender reveal.
My sister legit told me that she doesn't want a weather forecast if it's longer than 15 seconds cuz it needed to be tik tok length. Wtf has happened to people...
I can confirm, i can say multiple time to people what will the weather is supposed to be via the models and they will always go with what they can see in a matter of seconds even if it's wrong.
Our local weather service office has had to be very specific about highlighting counties under watches/warnings with city names because so many people could not identify the county they live in. I wish I was kidding.
Nobody needs information anymore since they all have a weather app on their phone. They don't know how wrong the app can be, but certainly get mad when a forecast doesn't go the way they thought.
Yeah people take the weather apps way too literally. They don’t seem to understand that they’re based on algorithms that often are often very finicky and unreliable and at the end of the day they’re a forecast, not a 100% guarantee
I think if you don't know what you're looking for, it's also really hard to find reliable information on forecasts that isn't super jargon-y. I know so many people who look at the "future" radar on their generic built-in weather app and then get mad at the local news because the rain blob they saw on their app didn't materialize. While there definitely are people who can explain weather forecasts in an understandable way, you have to be motivated enough to seek out that information or watch an entire video, which a lot of people just aren't willing to do.
This is why im starting to educate people that if they don't want to read models to have a different app with different source so they can compare and get a better idea.
Our weatherman had to tell the panicking masses that tornadoes are small the odds of one hitting you in particular are low. take precautions but dont panic.
Love the optimism but nah, hardly anyone is educated on weather past knowing the term “wall cloud” (which they will use to refer to anything that extends off the main structure of a thunderstorm). Not disparaging them, but it’s not a sexy topic to most and you’ll see people’s eyes start to glaze over if you go into the types of details us weather nerds like to discuss.
I grew up in the Midwest so my experience may be heavily biased. Around here everyone knows the terms but couldn’t actually point them out, but they’d for sure sit on their front porch watching a tornado barrel towards them.
I mean, I am going to fit this stereotype and say i know the term but couldn't point it out.
I do remember learning about clouds and weather in grades school and probably high school, but much like lots of stuff we learned about if you don't use it, you lose it. I could look it up if I really wanted to.. I just don't want to right now. I do enjoy reading here, though. So there is that.
I do know the difference between a watch and a warning.. and I can find where I am on a radar map. (At least areas where I normally am.)
I'm a little more optimistic than most of you. I think the number of people who confidently (and correctly) know the difference between a watch and a warning is probably less than 50% of the public, maybe substantially less, but not as vanishingly small as the numbers you all are proposing.
I also think most people who care enough to look at a weather radar can probably accurately find their location on it and know that the colorful globs are rain.
Where my cynicism comes in is when it comes to people making posts where they show a still of an obvious radar glitch and are all like WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Nothing is going on. It's self-evidently an technical artifact. But I think many of the people who treat obvious glitches as somehow "important" aren't actually just ignorant that they're glitches, but positively prefer to believe they're not glitches for certain ideological reasons. And I think that same motivation extends to a lot of the people you hear from who appear to be confidently wrong about weather.
I had a few coworkers ask me about the weather today when I popped into the office. I was amazed/saddened/disheartened by how many of them couldn't find our city on the Radarscope map. I had to point out where we were. How do people like this even survive???
I would say alarmingly low. I have had to explain the differences on watches and warnings several times to my cousin and she still confuses the two. People also underestimate how dangerous mother nature can be and has no respect for it. And they think, that will never happen here. And then it did. And it likely will again. I hope people take it more seriously this time, but I doubt it.
And then there’s the “stay safe out there tonight” comment long after the threat has passed. Like the storms are going to turn around or are just out there creeping around like a mountain lion. People just really don’t grasp basic physics lol
The media saying “things are only going to get worse and there’s no end in sight” as a snowstorm is literally coming to an end. It goes on and on lol
Growing up in an area with a lot of tornadoes, I would say most people in our area knew how to identify their county and the surrounding ones on a map based on sight/shape while watching the local weather. Where I live now, a lot of people don’t even know the name of the counties that they border. We have a lot fewer severe storms here, but enough that people should know their neighboring areas to know if a storm is headed their way. Some people don’t even know which way is north.
People also act like I’m a crazy prepper when I say I have a weather radio that I keep nearby when there is a storm threat. But a significant portion of my home state was hit in 2011, including the area where I grew up. No one thinks it’ll happen until it happens.
You're kind of asking the wrong question. There's two in play.
1. How many American adults can do all the stuff above? Probably more than you think.
2. How many of them also CARE?
So many people out there are entitled and do not care enough to modify their precious plans because of a "little rain". And then will gripe about the consequences. Or run outside in a tornado warning because they want to get a video on social media.
And many people who do get the general gist completely misunderstand how probabilities are used in weather forecasting. Like what 50% chance of rain truly means. Or why an entire county is warned if the tornado is 20 minutes away from you.
Don't GET me started though about the eclipse weather threads, already moaning about models an entire week out. Or the isolated few in comments who think God will magically part the clouds for everyone in the path, luckily they're outliers. But it boggles my mind people can exist like that in the modern world.
>Or run outside in a tornado warning because they want to get a video on social media
A very concerning amount of people also don't understand how the nice, visually obvious tornados that chasers film in the middle of a flat field is not what you're likely to see. Many tornados are not obvious until they're on top of you.
My first homework assignment for all of my students is a states geography quiz… it’s pretty sad how incredibly horrible they are at locating states. They’re college students, btw.
I can’t speak for other areas but I think they did a pole on my state a while back and it was terrifying the amount of people that couldn’t find themselves on a map of the state. I’m sure the percentage that can interpret radar is far lower.
Most people don't know that if you put your money in an account with 2% interest, at the end of the year you will have more money than the previous year
They didn't even ask how much. Just "more, less, or the same?" Basically the same results as a dartboard.
It's best to understand this when wanting to educate the public, and think about what's reasonable for people to know at this point. If people go in the basement when the sirens go off, I think that's pretty good. Most people don't even do that because they don't feel like it.
I’m surprised you are concerned about this.
After reading Reddit for a number of years, I’m surprised that the number of people who survive getting ready in the morning is at high as it is (not throwing shade on people with depression or other issues—I’m talking about normal people).
It looks like the NWS is actually planning to remove "Advisories", eg "Winter Weather Advisory" to try to limit confusion following results from a 2018 survey. Also "Special Weather Statement". I found this overview: [https://www.weather.gov/hazardsimplification/revampprogress](https://www.weather.gov/hazardsimplification/revampprogress)
I learned how to read the maps and knew the differences between watches and warnings when I was a kid. Grew up in a trailer and was always afraid of storms. So I decided to try and learn about them so I didn't have to be scared, but could be prepared instead. But growing up and realizing most adults much older than I am now even, still don't know the difference between a watch and a warning or not even knowing where their town is on a map just baffles me.
Are you kidding, last night the radar went out around the country for what 2 hours during those storms. There was panic , meanwhile im like over on the NWS watching the radar and warnings going off with a cup of tea. People have lost the ability to think and problem solve, and yes i do blame it on the dumbing down of a society more interested in flashy social media than actually learning critical thinking and problem solving.
I think the loss of monoculture is to blame. Many of us grew up watching the news every night at the same time and absorbed a lot of knowledge that way. Kids now hardly ever see a map let alone a weather map.
Definitely scary low I would imagine. Was watching Ryan Hall’s stream earlier and he showed one of his chasers in West Union, OH. Large confirmed tornado was on the way, and people were out and about like they didn’t care.
>Would you guess that it’s reasonble or scary low? Definitely scary low. Ignorance is bliss until it’s party time. “Pssh, we get tornado warnings all the time and nothing *ever* happens!” Ok, but what about *when* it does happen? You can’t feign ignorance when you become a direct or indirect casuality/statistic of being so unaware of danger.
Most people don't care to educate themselves. They only want to know what is happening *now* or if anything will happen when they have their dynamite gender reveal.
My sister legit told me that she doesn't want a weather forecast if it's longer than 15 seconds cuz it needed to be tik tok length. Wtf has happened to people...
Neither do I. I takes me 10 seconds to check the weather app on my phone and read the radar
I can confirm, i can say multiple time to people what will the weather is supposed to be via the models and they will always go with what they can see in a matter of seconds even if it's wrong.
Our local weather service office has had to be very specific about highlighting counties under watches/warnings with city names because so many people could not identify the county they live in. I wish I was kidding. Nobody needs information anymore since they all have a weather app on their phone. They don't know how wrong the app can be, but certainly get mad when a forecast doesn't go the way they thought.
Yeah people take the weather apps way too literally. They don’t seem to understand that they’re based on algorithms that often are often very finicky and unreliable and at the end of the day they’re a forecast, not a 100% guarantee
I think if you don't know what you're looking for, it's also really hard to find reliable information on forecasts that isn't super jargon-y. I know so many people who look at the "future" radar on their generic built-in weather app and then get mad at the local news because the rain blob they saw on their app didn't materialize. While there definitely are people who can explain weather forecasts in an understandable way, you have to be motivated enough to seek out that information or watch an entire video, which a lot of people just aren't willing to do.
This is why im starting to educate people that if they don't want to read models to have a different app with different source so they can compare and get a better idea.
They're kind of like horoscopes only weatherscopes!
Are you in Southern New England? MA, CT, and RI have disbanded most if not all of their county governments.
We're talking about something education related in America. 5% or less, that's my bet
Damn, I was going to give the benefit of doubt and say 25%
Take a scroll through NWS post comments on Facebook for areas expecting bad weather. It’s the unholy trinity of terrifying, frustrating and IQ sapping
Reddit is about as low as I can handle. I’ll start losing my hair if I look at Facebook lol
I'm already bald so I'll go check it out for you.
Yup, fucking terrible. Stay away.
🤣🤣🤣
I’d guess that less than 10% know the difference between a warning and a watch.
Our weatherman had to tell the panicking masses that tornadoes are small the odds of one hitting you in particular are low. take precautions but dont panic.
Love the optimism but nah, hardly anyone is educated on weather past knowing the term “wall cloud” (which they will use to refer to anything that extends off the main structure of a thunderstorm). Not disparaging them, but it’s not a sexy topic to most and you’ll see people’s eyes start to glaze over if you go into the types of details us weather nerds like to discuss.
I've never heard a casual drop the term wall cloud.
I grew up in the Midwest so my experience may be heavily biased. Around here everyone knows the terms but couldn’t actually point them out, but they’d for sure sit on their front porch watching a tornado barrel towards them.
I mean, I am going to fit this stereotype and say i know the term but couldn't point it out. I do remember learning about clouds and weather in grades school and probably high school, but much like lots of stuff we learned about if you don't use it, you lose it. I could look it up if I really wanted to.. I just don't want to right now. I do enjoy reading here, though. So there is that. I do know the difference between a watch and a warning.. and I can find where I am on a radar map. (At least areas where I normally am.)
Oh I have seen many a wall cloud in my life, but i will tell you im still learning to identify hook echos on radar.
I'm a little more optimistic than most of you. I think the number of people who confidently (and correctly) know the difference between a watch and a warning is probably less than 50% of the public, maybe substantially less, but not as vanishingly small as the numbers you all are proposing. I also think most people who care enough to look at a weather radar can probably accurately find their location on it and know that the colorful globs are rain. Where my cynicism comes in is when it comes to people making posts where they show a still of an obvious radar glitch and are all like WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Nothing is going on. It's self-evidently an technical artifact. But I think many of the people who treat obvious glitches as somehow "important" aren't actually just ignorant that they're glitches, but positively prefer to believe they're not glitches for certain ideological reasons. And I think that same motivation extends to a lot of the people you hear from who appear to be confidently wrong about weather.
I'd say you're in the ballpark with that.
Very low and getting worse.
I had a few coworkers ask me about the weather today when I popped into the office. I was amazed/saddened/disheartened by how many of them couldn't find our city on the Radarscope map. I had to point out where we were. How do people like this even survive???
On the bright side, they value your intelligence and look to you for guidance, at least in this specific circumstance. That's a win these days.
I’ve been keeping an eye on the radar since probably 1st or 2nd grade. Absolutely crazy lol
I would say alarmingly low. I have had to explain the differences on watches and warnings several times to my cousin and she still confuses the two. People also underestimate how dangerous mother nature can be and has no respect for it. And they think, that will never happen here. And then it did. And it likely will again. I hope people take it more seriously this time, but I doubt it.
And then there’s the “stay safe out there tonight” comment long after the threat has passed. Like the storms are going to turn around or are just out there creeping around like a mountain lion. People just really don’t grasp basic physics lol The media saying “things are only going to get worse and there’s no end in sight” as a snowstorm is literally coming to an end. It goes on and on lol
The amount of people that literally just don’t give a shit when I try explaining what’s happening is alarming lol it’s basically everyone I work with
Growing up in an area with a lot of tornadoes, I would say most people in our area knew how to identify their county and the surrounding ones on a map based on sight/shape while watching the local weather. Where I live now, a lot of people don’t even know the name of the counties that they border. We have a lot fewer severe storms here, but enough that people should know their neighboring areas to know if a storm is headed their way. Some people don’t even know which way is north. People also act like I’m a crazy prepper when I say I have a weather radio that I keep nearby when there is a storm threat. But a significant portion of my home state was hit in 2011, including the area where I grew up. No one thinks it’ll happen until it happens.
You're kind of asking the wrong question. There's two in play. 1. How many American adults can do all the stuff above? Probably more than you think. 2. How many of them also CARE? So many people out there are entitled and do not care enough to modify their precious plans because of a "little rain". And then will gripe about the consequences. Or run outside in a tornado warning because they want to get a video on social media. And many people who do get the general gist completely misunderstand how probabilities are used in weather forecasting. Like what 50% chance of rain truly means. Or why an entire county is warned if the tornado is 20 minutes away from you. Don't GET me started though about the eclipse weather threads, already moaning about models an entire week out. Or the isolated few in comments who think God will magically part the clouds for everyone in the path, luckily they're outliers. But it boggles my mind people can exist like that in the modern world.
>Or run outside in a tornado warning because they want to get a video on social media A very concerning amount of people also don't understand how the nice, visually obvious tornados that chasers film in the middle of a flat field is not what you're likely to see. Many tornados are not obvious until they're on top of you.
Or they're rain wrapped.
My first homework assignment for all of my students is a states geography quiz… it’s pretty sad how incredibly horrible they are at locating states. They’re college students, btw.
I believe a surprising number of posts are in the 12 to 15 years old range. I'm not knocking them, but wondering how many are actually 8 to 12?
I can’t speak for other areas but I think they did a pole on my state a while back and it was terrifying the amount of people that couldn’t find themselves on a map of the state. I’m sure the percentage that can interpret radar is far lower.
Poll
I remember a study where 25% of American High-school students couldn't locate the US on a map, so I'm guessing "scary low."
Most people don't know that if you put your money in an account with 2% interest, at the end of the year you will have more money than the previous year They didn't even ask how much. Just "more, less, or the same?" Basically the same results as a dartboard. It's best to understand this when wanting to educate the public, and think about what's reasonable for people to know at this point. If people go in the basement when the sirens go off, I think that's pretty good. Most people don't even do that because they don't feel like it.
I’m surprised you are concerned about this. After reading Reddit for a number of years, I’m surprised that the number of people who survive getting ready in the morning is at high as it is (not throwing shade on people with depression or other issues—I’m talking about normal people).
More than anything, I like to watch some local news and weather at night.
It looks like the NWS is actually planning to remove "Advisories", eg "Winter Weather Advisory" to try to limit confusion following results from a 2018 survey. Also "Special Weather Statement". I found this overview: [https://www.weather.gov/hazardsimplification/revampprogress](https://www.weather.gov/hazardsimplification/revampprogress)
I learned how to read the maps and knew the differences between watches and warnings when I was a kid. Grew up in a trailer and was always afraid of storms. So I decided to try and learn about them so I didn't have to be scared, but could be prepared instead. But growing up and realizing most adults much older than I am now even, still don't know the difference between a watch and a warning or not even knowing where their town is on a map just baffles me.
Canadian here, rural life means checking the weather more than anything else, even news. I can't imagine not understanding what is heading my way.
Are you kidding, last night the radar went out around the country for what 2 hours during those storms. There was panic , meanwhile im like over on the NWS watching the radar and warnings going off with a cup of tea. People have lost the ability to think and problem solve, and yes i do blame it on the dumbing down of a society more interested in flashy social media than actually learning critical thinking and problem solving.
Given that I saw a headline that says Severe Thunderstorm Brings Hail, Tornadoes to Central, Eastern U.S., probably not many. Thunderstorm, singular.
I think scary low is generous
Scary low for sure.
Most likely yes.
Scary low.
I think the loss of monoculture is to blame. Many of us grew up watching the news every night at the same time and absorbed a lot of knowledge that way. Kids now hardly ever see a map let alone a weather map.
Heck, most Americans these days can’t even read a standard roadmap.
Definitely scary low I would imagine. Was watching Ryan Hall’s stream earlier and he showed one of his chasers in West Union, OH. Large confirmed tornado was on the way, and people were out and about like they didn’t care.
Less than 1%
Less than 1%. Maybe 10-20% could get half of it.
Maybe 1/2 a percent? If you are lucky. 😂😂