I signed up some time ago to have Special Weather Statements from the National Weather Service e-mailed to me as they are issued. Just moments ago, I received a long one which began as follows…
Special Weather Statement
400 PM PST Mon Feb 24 2003…Rain and mountain snow for southwestern California tonight and Tuesday…Winter Storm Warning in effect above 5500 feet for the mountains of Santa Barbara…Ventura and Los Angeles counties…
A winter storm approaching the coast has already brought showers to the central coast of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. The showers will increase in coverage with rain expected to quickly spread south to Ventura and Los Angeles counties this evening. Rain…heavy at times…can be expected overnight across southwestern California. An isolated thunderstorm will be possible as well. The heaviest rain is expected along south facing slopes and foothills. The rain should gradually diminish from north to south on Tuesday.
And then it went on for many paragraphs to warn of floods and road-closings. Because I knew no rain was forecast for today and I hadn't noticed the message date, I made a loud Scooby Doo sound…"Ruh?" Eleven minutes later, another Special Weather Statement arrived in my e-mailbox. Here it is, in full…
Special Weather Statement
1100 AM PST Tue Nov 18 2003Please disregard previous special weather statement dated Feb 24 2003.
This is kinda like all the reports about Iraq/Al-Qaeda links and Weapons of Mass Destruction and leaked memos, except that it got corrected on its own and by the folks who were wrong in the first place.