METEOROLOGY AND MEDIA

摘要

Since life came into existence on earth, each and every species of living being have been struggling with the vagaries of nature and those species only survived which could adapt to the changing climate. Nature obeys its strict principle - survival of the fittest. So it is but natural for human being to study the science of nature as his various activities are influenced by it. And as necessity is the 'mother of invention', it discovered ways and means to combat the natural fury. The meteorological science is more or less understood by each and every human being but there are certain intricacies which are not appreciated by public in general. Media can play a vital role in educating the public by conveying correct information and for this the media correspondents should themselves understand the intricacies of nature - its unpredictability. It is to be kept in mind that the word 'Forecast' indicates it is a probability occurrence, it is not a certainty; but this probability assessment is based on scientific theories and observed data. There is always a certain amount of uncertainty in each forecast, may it be the population growth, economic growth, share market, result of an important match, election result or anything like that. Each considers a number of factors (variables) and trend which go on changing. Media can highlight this aspect so as to remove misconception from the minds of the mass and help to build confidence on forecasters.