[Parallax]

There is one constant relative to the weather; here in South Dakota, anyway. No matter what the weather condition at any given time; people will complain about it.
There is another phenomenon here as well. Despite not being able to find the specific codified law in my research, I'm fairly certain it's a felony to not say the exact phrase "well, we need (or 'can use') the moisture" if someone in a group of 2 or more people mentions any form of precipitation.
(This requirement was suspended in 2011 for the area along the Missouri River basin when the USACoE flooded us.)

[Douflytoo]

" Increasing darkness with chance of light by morning."

[wtlwdwgn]

I love it when the forecast is for "mostly sunny" or "partly cloudy."

[Murfy]

the only true forecast for the weather is along the lines of "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes." We gambled and lost.

That is pretty much the weather here. Radar is pretty useless because things pop up pretty fast and are pretty isolated, if it does come up, it could be gone in 20 minutes most of the time. There are 2 local scientist/teacher/student intern sites who have far much accurate weather predictions than accuweather or any national weather forecast. I tend to follow them. When I don't, I end up regretting it.

[Al_Kahollick]

It's impossible to spin straw into gold as well; yet, oddly, no one gets paid for repeatedly failing to do it.

Only because people figured out eons ago that it wasn't possible, modern man still hasn't realized the futility of trying to get an accurate weather forecast! As long as there's demand for any product, no matter how silly (chia pet anyone?), someone will be paid to produce it!

[Parallax]

As long as there's demand for any product, no matter how silly (chia pet anyone?), someone will be paid to produce it!

LOL!

[Nakedgun]

Apparently accuweather doesn't know the difference between mostly clear and mostly cloudy. Went to the lake to take astro, only to find out how critically wrong they were (and then finding out I grabbed the wrong camera bag... so had most of my lenses, but not my camera). Is it just me, or is accuweather pretty much anything BUT accurate? Also, the lake is about a 30 mi. round trip that takes 20 or so min. to drive to... To drive out there and have to turn around immediately....

For the everyday forecast, I use Weather Forecast & Reports - Long Range & Local | Wunderground | Weather Underground

For an astro-forecast near you, try Clear Sky Chart Homepage

[MSL]

Weather forecasters were created to make economists look like geniuses.

That said, some places are really easy to predict (say large chunks of California) and others, like in my area where three weather systems tend to converge, can be a bit more challenging.

[reeftool]

Relying on weather forecasts in the mountains is an exercise in futility. We just spent two days in the trailer in Waterton Lakes National Park. We also had to do a truck service and some shopping, so we did that on day 1, accurately forecast as sunny and warm. Day 2, which was also forecast as sunny and warm, was not. It was windy and wet. We should have figured on doing the truck service on the way back, but it is a hassle to drop the trailer before the Toyota dealer does its thing. We should have opted for the hassle.

Here, in the Rocky Mountains, the only true forecast for the weather is along the lines of "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes." We gambled and lost.

That is equally true of the Adirondacks, maybe even more. The combination of mountains and hundreds of lakes and rivers create their own local weather. The other issue is the Great Lakes directly to the west. While the extreme winter snow gets a lot of press coverage, the same conditions cause summer showers and storms. All that's needed is just a little wind off Lake Ontario and when that air hits the mountains, the weather gets very unpredictable. Weather radar isn't very reliable in the mountains either.

[Parallax]

Weather forecasters were created to make economists look like geniuses.

I'll remember that one!

[ChrisPlatt]

Verizon FIOS here in New York just dropped the Weather Channel and gave us Accuweather instead.
It's kind of like a low-rent version of TWC. Fewer remotes, sets are cheaper looking, and hosts not as well-dressed.

My wife can watch all day, yet when I leave for work at 10:00 PM and ask if I need a raincoat, she is stumped...

Chris

[Bryce K]

Are you in the US? I usually use NOAA weather forecasts and find them to be quite accurate. In particular, during the winter, I find that accuweather way over estimates the amount of snow fall we are going to get here.

I agree with this. Living in the SoCal mountains in winter when a storm is expected knowing how much snow to expect is important and NOAA forecasts in that regard have shown themselves to be much more accurate than Accuweather, Weather.com and any others.

[Auzzie-Phoenix]

I don't trust them for anything other than temperature, and wind speed. You'd think though, that they'd know the difference between cloudy and not.