Tall Tales and Weather Predictions

Years ago there was a weatherman at CJOH in Ottawa who would forecast wonderful weekend weather, time and time again, only for us to experience wet rainy conditions. Many of us got to the point where we actually didn't trust his weekend weather reports, and some openly called him a liar.  Eventually he admitted that he didn't want to tell us when it was going to rain on a weekend, as he didn't want to spoil our fun. Of course, going where we planned to go and getting rained on also spoiled our fun, but I guess he didn't see it that way.

Technology has changed so much since those days that we don't even need to tune into the TV weather forecasts if we don't want to.  I can check my local weather on my computer, and I have a Weather Network app on my tablet.  If I want to, I can not only see the current forecast but also what's expected to happen over the next two weeks, or even hour by hour for the next 36 hours.  I don't have to even limit myself to where I am. If I am going somewhere, or planning a vacation, I can look at where I'm headed and see how things will be when I'm there.

Actually, I did that last year. We were planning to go to Nova Scotia for our holiday.  The weather was not all that great here, so I looked where we were going to see if it was going to affect us there, and if postponing a couple of days would be a good idea, so that we could follow the weather there, instead of it following us.  What I saw was that they seemed to be expecting rain every day for the entire two weeks we had available for travel. Since everything we like to do is outside, we decided not to go, and enjoyed a Staycation here, with day trips around the area. It was very enjoyable, but when it was over, I got plenty of reports from people who were in the maritimes during our vacation time who told me the weather had been wonderful.  I'm wondering if perhaps the forecasts I saw showed a 40% probability, but the graphics definitely showed raindrops each and every day.

This spring I discovered that Kingston was going to host an Artfest in a big city park and I have been looking forward to it more than any other event this year. We had planned to go for Canada Day, but once again the weather got in the way.  Or maybe it was just the weather forecast.

It was definitely not the nicest day here, and I was not even tempted to wander downtown to even see if the usual Canada Day festivities were taking place.  I checked the Kingston weather, and found that the only difference was that we were expecting possible thunderstorms here, but they were just expecting rain.  Either way, the weather put a damper on any plans I had for the day.  I just stayed in and read all day, and surfed the internet.

While online I discovered that we could get tickets to an adaptation of Pirates of Penzance at the 1000 Island Playhouse in Gananoque at a greatly reduced rate for that one night only. We jumped on this deal, and enjoyed an evening out. The rich costumes of the usual Gilbert and Sullivan production were nowhere in evidence in this adaptation. The troupe brought the story forward to 1926 and set it among the Thousand Islands.  The pirates in this story became rum runners on the Saint Lawrence River.  There was a great deal of talent on stage, and lots of giggles and outright belly laughs going on in the audience. My Canada Day may not have been what I had planned, but it turned out just fine in the end.

The following day I was once again online and saw lots of photos of the first day of the Kingston Artfest.  The sun appeared to be shining in those pictures. Lots of people were there, and lots of tents held a wide variety of artwork. I could have been there after all.

A little research shows me that weather forecasts are usually quite accurate within a three day time frame. I really have to stop looking at the weather forecasts when I'm making plans, because apparently all weather men lie, just in case what happens might spoil your day.