Publication: L.A. Times

UCLA Expert: Daniel Swain: Assistant Researcher and Climate Specialist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: Independent and amateur forecasters, armed with global data available online, have disrupted the quiet, calm science of meteorology by posting their own weather predictions on blogs and social media.

UCLA News:  Sharing severe but unlikely forecasts too often can lead to “warning fatigue.” If the dire predictions don’t come true, Swain said, “people are less likely to take it seriously when the big one is coming down the pike… Sometimes these people on social media can get big followings if they make big, bold predictions. They are choosing from among dozens of possibilities and picking the most-extreme one.”

Read more at L.A. Times.