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Cliff Mass is a skilled meteorologist, and I owe my interest and knowledge of local Puget Sound weather to his excellent blog. However, readers ought to know t
by tony_cannistra 6y ago
Cliff Mass is a skilled meteorologist, and I owe my interest and knowledge of local Puget Sound weather to his excellent blog.
However, readers ought to know that he has an unpleasant (and dangerous) habit of using his meterologically-derived platform to opine about issues that he has no knowledge about, such as the recent anti-racist protests [0]. These posts have led to two public radio stations in Seattle terminating his segments (KUOW and KNKX).
He obviously has the right to these kinds of posts, but his skill in delivering these largely poorly-researched messages to a general public audience is incredibly amateurish, especially given the trust he's garnered as a scientist.
As a scientist myself, I take particular issue with the way he presents topics regarding climate change. He makes very reasonable academic critiques about atmospheric models that are entirely un-interpretable by an untrained public (e.g. without the formal context required to understand that a scientist's job is to provide specific critique, and that those critiques don't always invalidate an entire research effort). These posts are picked up by climate deniers and suddenly "UW Scientist Says Climate Change is a Hoax!". Here's an example [1].
[0]: https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/08/seattle-city-in-fear-can-be-restored.html https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/08/seattle-city-in-fear-...
[1]:https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2019/08/is-global-warming-existential-threat.html https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2019/08/is-global-warming-exi...
- gedy 6y ago"(and dangerous) habit of using his meterologically-derived platform to opine about issues that he has no knowledge about" The link you shared on the first point looks to be him saddened and lamenting the violence and destruction in his city. His sharing opinion on that is dangerous? But media celebrities, athletes, etc are fine?
- tony_cannistra 6y agoI'm not sure I understand your comment. Cliff Mass is not an athlete or celebrity, he's a meteorologist. As I mentioned, all people have the right to share their opinions on their personal blogs. Cliff Mass does so flippantly, seemingly without consideration of the potential misinterpretations possible given his large audience. Just because one can write something and publish it, doesn't mean they should. Especially for a large audience. Also, the article you mention compares Seattle in August to Kristallnacht.
- nickff 6y agoCliff Mass' audience (which includes me, someone who uses his forecasts for special events), likely has above average levels of education, and are better-equipped than the average citizen to interpret his writings. We are talking about a weather blog, not a re-cap of Keeping up with the Kardashians! Mass' blog audience doesn't seem particularly large, or uneducated, so it's a bit paternalistic to say that they can't handle a new view.
- seizethecheese 6y agoThis post is not about climate change. Should we not read anything by this guy if he has expressed an opinion you don’t like? Actually, if you consider excess wildfire smoke to be a component of climate change, the author is actually expanding our understanding of changes to the climate in this piece...
- UhDev 6y agoEveryone has opinions. If that bothers you, try to ignore them.