Editorial opinion on MET office weakness during the hurricanes…
Our Met service did not give the confidence of reporting (giving weather information in its complete accuracy) even though it may not be what the public wanted to hear. Many persons expressed little confidence in the information coming out of the official weather service for St. Maarten. They fell extremely short of reaching their goal as stated on their website, which is “to protect life and property, by providing meteorological services in support of the social and economic development of the country through monitoring and predicting weather & climate, using up-to-date technology to enable optimal utilization of resources”.
We have the backup of the hurricane center in Miami, countless satellite images and a number of network stations available to us on cable, giving their predictions and interpretation of what impact the weather will have on the Islands in its path. At least those in charge of our weather service could easily piggy back on those information, and let us know what to expect. Taken into account the responsibility placed on the met office to provide the official weather information to the public, they gave little confidence their interpretation of the weather could be trusted. They sounded timid and unsure when they were called on to give weather information.
Since hurricanes are going to be a reoccurring annual threat to us in the hurricane belt, as far as disaster preparedness is concern, the met office has to be one of the department that must be up to par and forth coming with information to prepare our people for what’s coming, and do so with confidence their information is accurately interpreted and their predictions trust worthy.
Now, I am aware that forecasting is never completely accurate at times, since weather patterns can change quickly, but from a public stand point, listening to the official weather department giving information about the hurricanes, we should be able to trust the information, and not be in doubt. If there is no confidence in the data provided, one will have to get their weather information from another source.
As a journalist for many years, and at one point being responsible for the weather on our News program, I often had to interpret and break down the weather and its impact on St. Maarten using all the models available to us, and as a quick learner I was able to gain a good understanding of the weather, and in particular Hurricanes and their movements. On that premise therefore, I based my critique and opinion on the performance of the Met service during the passing of Irma, Jose and Maria that we all experienced during September. I was extremely disappointed in the delivery, and how often they were available to give accurate weather information about the hurricanes. My observations and opinion in this article were expressed, in the hope that at this stage of our development as a country, (Sovereign State) we really should be further on rather than falling backwards. I do believe we need to demand more and a higher quality performance from the people put in charge and not to give the feeling that whatever is handed to us is good enough.
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