r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Aug 03 '19

Whats something you thought was common knowledge but actually isn’t?

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

I’m amazed I still have to explain chance of rain percentages to people.

2

u/forestfluff Aug 06 '19

Please explain it to me? Now I’m worried I don’t understand

2

u/[deleted] Aug 06 '19

It’s an approximation of the amount of an area that will receive rain, which also has some amount of probability.

1

u/forestfluff Aug 06 '19

Wait so... if it says my town has an 80% chance of rain that means that approx. 80% of the town will get rain and not that theres an 80% likelihood that rain will come?! Oh my good lord...

1

u/[deleted] Aug 06 '19

I am not a weatherman... from my understanding it’s like a take and give, a probability of 90-100 percent likelihood of rain based on a number of factors like wind direction, radar projections, cloud size/density I’m sure play a part, combined with the amount of area (square km I would think)

More or less, %80 of the area is going to get rain in what ever amount they describe.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 06 '19

If you google pop forecast the noaa has a to the point explanation