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Weather Persons' Day

Feb 6, 2012; 10:23 AM ET

Monday 10:30 a.m.

Yesterday was Weatherperson's Day, marking the birth of one of the first weather prognosticators, John Jeffries, on this date in 1705. In our work, we're under high pressure to help people weather the storms of life and sometimes offer a bit of philosophy. That's tough because people are so variable they aren't always clear. Some people are full of bluster but have no direction. Some are sunny; others are real drips. Some like to give things away; others are cumulists.

One person will give you a cold shoulder while others put up a warm front. Some people like lots of visibility; others have more humidity. We just try to be enlightening. If I'm boring, people's ice glaze over and they're ready to fall back to sleet. Hopefully, I can bring flurries of laughter. At least maybe I establish the proper climate for deciding if problems will be mist or they're cirrus. If they do get cirrus, our forecasts follow a warning trend.

My basic aim is to rain in the main weather factors to help precipitate the right decisions. If the forecast is flaky or I try to snow you, you can't crystallize your ideas on what to expect. That leads to storms of protest, especially if people think they're in a fog. If I don't condense the details, your interest evaporates (like now), then troubles really accumulate. The forecast for the Northeast: mild today into tomorrow, but we will not keep the stratus quo.

A cold from from the northwest should bring cause some rain and snow showers in Philadelphia and New York City Wednesday. It looks to be dry and moderately chilly Thursday and Friday. Next week could be colder. Of course, for a weatherperson to state he or she has high confidence in a storm 6-10 days away is a good invitation for that weather person to weather storms of protest or gales of laughter if it does not happen.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

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About This Blog

Elliot Abrams
Elliot Abrams from AccuWeather.com offers this Northeast Weather Blog for the U.S. with regular updates on NE weather from a leading forecaster and meteorologist.

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