"I am constantly amazed by the general public's utter lack of faith in weather prediction......"

?  I though this topic thread was a discussion as to whether or not our winged hairy legged livestock could predict the weather days in advance.  

I did not see comments from anyone challenging the accuracy of the computer modeling and weather prediction performed by humans....and I do not think anyone was complaining about the human forecasting being done.

For me I rely on several different apps on my "smart"  phone,  one being Accuweather as far as predictions be it 10 or 15 days out.... however when the proverbial mass starts hitting the fan with storms, I use other apps which give me live Doppler radar and storm path predictions because the radar images painted by Accuweather, Weather Channel and Weather.com are usually 5 to 15 minutes stale..... not good if you are the path of one.

Do not care WHO does and publishes a forecast... be it for today or 2 days from now..... wait 3 hours and the forecast will change.  I am not complaining about it.  If I want a weather prediction, I will turn to human sources or the my own knowledge gleaned over the past 64+ years.   I doubt I will be looking to see what the cows or chickens or bees are doing.

Again, I do not think bees can predict the weather, I believe they are more sensitive to certain weather conditions/parameters and solar activity or lack thereof than a human can ever be.  Whether it is changes in pressure, temperature, humidity, dew point, or the spectrum of light reaching or not reaching them from the sun...   Their ability to sense and make sense of these indicators is far beyond humans.

For all I know, the bees may taste the weather with their proboscis to get a reading and combine it with the optical (eyes and ocelli) and any other inputs they receive from their antennae and body hairs.

I think it is all a result of eons of evolved instinctive behavior.     They have survived to this point because they adapted and evolved to "know better". 

I am not a researcher or a scientist, just a lowly bee keeper.     My past life was in operating systems, computers, networks, IT and IS. 

In regards to the below statement:

"..most TV weather forecasters aren't even educated as meteorologists.  They're educated as journalists.."    

In our area, the persons who report the weather are trained and genuine meteorologists.    The people who are not meteorologists could not even be considered journalists.    They are que card or teleprompter reading talking heads.    Real Journalism and journalists went by the wayside MANY decades ago when the media decided they needed to make the news instead of reporting on it.

Every now and then you might be witness to a random act of journalism.... but it is just that and usually unintentional on their part.

Steve   
Central, Illinois

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