Whither Weather?

If some Canadian conservatives are thinking about following in the footsteps of the reverse douchebag in chief in the United States, they'd better think again. Sen. Rick Santorum (he of the "gay marriage leads to 'man-on-dog'" school of rights) has drafted a bill that would prevent the National Weather Service from competing with for-profit weather information providers, like the Weather Channel and AccuWeather. Apparently, the aim is to enable the NWS to spend more time providing info on hurricanes and tsunamis, according to bill suppporter and AccuWeather's Executive Vice President Barry Myers.

Two things: First, here's hoping Santorum throws his hat into the 2008 presidential race. Please please please. Second, don't even think about tinkering with what just might be the best service the Government of Canada provides online (though I don't know why they think it's proper to forecast so much rain). A rigid, scientific survey (I asked my friend Abba once) led me to find that Environment Canada does a better job of predicting the weather than, say, the Weather Channel. Why? EC is simply bearish. The Weather Channel will tell you that there's an 80% chance of rain or that it's going to be 27 when, in realtiy, EC's more tempered 60% and 25 win the point.

In the meantime, let's not ponder the notion that everything would be better if we just privatized it and charged a small user fee (even if it consisted of nothing more than watching an ad before you get your forecast). Let's just will it away.