On Monday, two top Hungarian officials were fired after a weather forecast for a very important event within the country turned out to be inaccurate.
The event was a fireworks show in honor of St. Stephen’s Day, a vacation annually hosted within the Hungarian capital of Budapest on Aug. 20 to have a good time the birth and history of Christianity in Hungary. The show often draws greater than 1,000,000 spectators.
Leading as much as the vacation, Hungary’s National Meteorological Service called for 75-80 percent probability of rain throughout the fireworks display’s start time of 9 p.m. on Aug. 20. Out of safety concerns, this forecast led to the fireworks show being rescheduled for Saturday, Aug. 27.
Nevertheless, the storms that were forecast for the unique event date didn’t materialize.
The top of Hungary’s National Meteorological Service Kornelia Radics, and her deputy Gyula Horvath were later fired.
Suspicions regarding the premise of the officials’ firing have circulated.
In an interview with Hungarian news outlet Telex, Horvath stated that he was not a part of the decision-making related to the St. Stephen’s Day fireworks.
“I even have been working in meteorological measurement and statement for 22 years, all the time to the very best of my ability,” he said. “Hearing this was painful, but since there’s nothing I can do about it, I even have accepted it.”
The National Meteorological Service released an announcement on Monday, calling the firings of Horvath and Radics “unacceptable” and “groundless”.
Weather made a major impact on St. Stephens Day celebrations 16 years ago.
In keeping with the Hungarian news outlet Origo, a violent storm hit Budapest throughout the fireworks display over the Danube River on Aug. 20, 2006.
The weather caused 500 injuries and five fatalities, including a lady who had a heart attack, a 12-year-old girl and a person who were killed by a falling tree and two people whose boat capsized throughout the storm.
“While forecasting has improved by leaps and bounds the past few a long time, it still is and should never be perfect,” said the FOX Weather Forecast Center. “This is very true with severe weather where subtle changes within the atmospheric conditions at small scales can have a big effect on the sort of weather that ultimately occurs. We simply don’t have the technology to model the atmosphere at that wonderful of detail.”
“So even when the parameters within the atmosphere are conducive for destructive storms to form in a given area, not everyone will see them,” they added. “That’s what happened in Budapest. Severe weather did occur, nevertheless it hit towns 15 miles south/southwest of town – that’s too close for comfort, and I’d argue it was an accurate forecast.”
On Monday, two top Hungarian officials were fired after a weather forecast for a very important event within the country turned out to be inaccurate.
The event was a fireworks show in honor of St. Stephen’s Day, a vacation annually hosted within the Hungarian capital of Budapest on Aug. 20 to have a good time the birth and history of Christianity in Hungary. The show often draws greater than 1,000,000 spectators.
Leading as much as the vacation, Hungary’s National Meteorological Service called for 75-80 percent probability of rain throughout the fireworks display’s start time of 9 p.m. on Aug. 20. Out of safety concerns, this forecast led to the fireworks show being rescheduled for Saturday, Aug. 27.
Nevertheless, the storms that were forecast for the unique event date didn’t materialize.
The top of Hungary’s National Meteorological Service Kornelia Radics, and her deputy Gyula Horvath were later fired.
Suspicions regarding the premise of the officials’ firing have circulated.
In an interview with Hungarian news outlet Telex, Horvath stated that he was not a part of the decision-making related to the St. Stephen’s Day fireworks.
“I even have been working in meteorological measurement and statement for 22 years, all the time to the very best of my ability,” he said. “Hearing this was painful, but since there’s nothing I can do about it, I even have accepted it.”
The National Meteorological Service released an announcement on Monday, calling the firings of Horvath and Radics “unacceptable” and “groundless”.
Weather made a major impact on St. Stephens Day celebrations 16 years ago.
In keeping with the Hungarian news outlet Origo, a violent storm hit Budapest throughout the fireworks display over the Danube River on Aug. 20, 2006.
The weather caused 500 injuries and five fatalities, including a lady who had a heart attack, a 12-year-old girl and a person who were killed by a falling tree and two people whose boat capsized throughout the storm.
“While forecasting has improved by leaps and bounds the past few a long time, it still is and should never be perfect,” said the FOX Weather Forecast Center. “This is very true with severe weather where subtle changes within the atmospheric conditions at small scales can have a big effect on the sort of weather that ultimately occurs. We simply don’t have the technology to model the atmosphere at that wonderful of detail.”
“So even when the parameters within the atmosphere are conducive for destructive storms to form in a given area, not everyone will see them,” they added. “That’s what happened in Budapest. Severe weather did occur, nevertheless it hit towns 15 miles south/southwest of town – that’s too close for comfort, and I’d argue it was an accurate forecast.”
