The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday asked a senior official to refrain from using Facebook to disseminate forecast information while the nation is on typhoon alert.
Forecast Center Director Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典) on Monday wrote that “Japan has announced that the tropical depression has become a tropical storm” on his Facebook page, three hours before the bureau issued a sea and land alert for Tropical Storm Namtheun.
VORTEX MERGING
On Wednesday, Cheng also wrote about “vortex merging theory,” in which he said Namtheun and Tropical Storm Lionrock could merge.
The bureau, however, never released information to the effect that the two storms would merge. Namtheun eventually weakened into a tropical depression after entering the Taiwan Strait and Lionrock passed through the strait and turned west toward China.
Local media said Cheng’s Facebook entries were “a slap in the face of his employers.”
Reacting to the media storm, bureau Director General Shin Tzay-chyn (辛在勤) fended off the criticism at a press conference yesterday.
PROBLEMATIC POSTS
“We [Shin and Cheng] have reached an agreement that he will not post forecast information on Facebook when the nation is on alert for tropical storms or typhoons, and that applies from the time an alert is issued to the time the alert is lifted,” Shin said.
While Facebook can serve as a tool to educate the public about the weather, Shin said, Cheng’s posts created problems for the bureau.
“When a typhoon approaches, he [Cheng], as director of weather forecasts, should focus on issuing alerts based on the bureau’s forecasts, not promoting his knowledge of typhoons on Facebook,” Shin said, adding that Cheng was also told not to write typhoon-related information on Facebook that is inconsistent with bureau forecasts.
However, he said that he was otherwise satisfied with Cheng’s performance.
In response, Cheng said the content of the information he posted on Facebook had nothing to do with the bureau’s forecasts, adding that he regretted that his messages had led to unexpected repercussions.
“When Japan said that Namtheun had formed, the information was posted on the Japanese weather authority’s Web site. People all over the world could see it,” Cheng said.
As to vortex merging theory, Cheng said the phenomenon had figured in some of the simulation models used by the bureau to forecast the paths of Namtheun and Lionrock. He said he believed people would be interested in learning about what he referred to as an “alternative outcome.”
ALERTS LIFTED
Yesterday, the bureau lifted the sea and land alerts for Lionrock.
Although the storm system has moved away, the nation will continue to be affected by its circumfluence, with chances of heavy to torrential rain remaining high in the southeastern, southern and central regions, the bureau said.
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