Heading into Saturday’s season-opening Louisville Cardinals football game against Austin Peay, the forecast called for rain.
The only thing that ended up raining down were touchdown passes from quarterback Tyler Shough in a 62-0 Cardinals rout.
Welcome to The Ville, @MarkRedman20 😮💨
📺 @accnetwork #GoCards pic.twitter.com/7smq4Kqx9O
— Louisville Football (@LouisvilleFB) August 31, 2024
There had been consistent weather reports throughout the week that thunderstorms would roll into the region, impacting play and potentially delaying the game altogether. Forecasts initially called for an 80% chance of rain. As the game got closer, forecasts changed to say that it was likely some rain would fall during the second half, but not the first.
However, the skies stayed blue, the temps soared into the 90s, and it was a beautiful day in Louisville for a level-setting victory to start the college football season.
While they were happy with the outcome, several Louisville folks were not happy with the lack of rain given how adamant weatherpeople had been about it. Specifically, 93.9 the Ville/ESPN 680 host Drew Deener took WDRB chief meteorologist Marc Weinberg to task on X, and the two traded barbs over how weather forecasting works.
Things kicked off Saturday when Deener posted a clip of Pinnichio’s nose growing with the caption “Lies.” as a quote-tweet on Weinberg’s Thursday post that it was looking “increasingly likely that rain and storms will be around our area on Saturday.”
Lies https://t.co/t7Vsh80PAX pic.twitter.com/HAZLOCXlYs
— Drew Deener (@deenersays) August 31, 2024
Deener followed that up with a post about “weather liars” and how poorly they forecast the day.
Man the weather liars could not have missed this forecast any worse. It’s hot AND dry
— Drew Deener (@deenersays) August 31, 2024
“2 days ago, all the data showed storms in the time frame,” responded Weinberg. “I am sure you realize that we must give heads up 2 days out. Many times we are in a bind, wait until the data shows a clear signal or do our best with the data we have. I don’t think people would be happy if I show no forecast all week until the morning of.”
2 days ago, all the data showed storms in the time frame. I am sure you realize that we must give heads up 2 days out. Many times we are in a bind, wait until the data shows a clear signal or do our best with the data we have. I don’t think people would be happy if I show no…
— Marc Weinberg (@MarcWeinbergWX) August 31, 2024
Not to be denied, Deener responded by blaming Weinberg and other meteorologists, saying the problem was that “people believe a forecast is accurate, and the negative impact on the local economy costs real money that cannot be recouped.” He also implied that weatherpeople should bear responsibility for financial losses suffered by local businesses due to the forecasts.
The problem is: people believe a forecast is accurate, and the negative impact on the local economy costs real money that cannot be recouped. So sure, blame it on the models, but you and your ilk have a negative unrecoverable impact on business and attendance for all events https://t.co/BtJY3lJaCs
— Drew Deener (@deenersays) August 31, 2024
It should be noted that heavy rains did hit nearby areas, such as New Albany, Indiana, which suffered flooding.
While it’s often pretty frustrating when the actual weather doesn’t match the forecasts that meteorologists make, that’s kinda how it works. Meteorology isn’t an exact science thanks to unpredictable atmosphere changes, data issues, and the complexity of weather patterns.
It might annoying to be told it’s probably going to rain and then it doesn’t leaving you with layers of unnecessary clothing, but it’s a fairly normal thing that happens.
So while we understand the annoyance, this feels like much ado about nothing. Just enjoy the big win on such a nice day.
