Argentine car washers blame poor weather forecasting for bad business

Saturday, January 19th 2013 - 03:00 UTC

Full article 31 comments

Automatic or manual, ‘pls don’t scare the clients’

But 2012 has been the rainiest year since 1900 says the Met office

A summer brawl has surfaced in Buenos Aires between the car washers’ industry and the Argentine Meteorological service that are blamed for their poor forecasts which scares customers from the outlets.

The dispute came to light when the Argentine Chamber of Automatic and Manual Automobile Washing, Calama, criticized the weather forecasters in an open letter addressed to one of Buenos Aires newspapers.

However the Argentine National Meteorological Service tried to downplay the controversy. The director of the service Hector Ciappesoni in statements to another daily said that the mistakes are “even” both when announcing rainfall and when anticipating good weather.

“In any case the owners of the car washing stations must understand that 2012 was the fourth rainiest year since 1900”, indicated Ciappesoni.
In the letter the chamber complains that the “reiterated errors” of the Met Service which forecast rain, storms and hail which then do not occur only help “to scare clients” from our washing stations.

“What the news airs is considered almost a ‘holy statement’ and sometimes there are whole programs dedicated to climate change and the weather, and whenever they forecast rain, it’s a ‘dry’ day for us”, complained Calama.

“They (news programs) even forecast with absolute certainty at what time it is going to rain and for how long, and repeat and repeat”, complained Atilio Krenn, president of the car washing industry.

Ironically from the other side of the River Plate, in Montevideo, there are also serious complaints about weather forecasts and the government’s handling of extreme situations with strong storms of wind and twisters.

However in Uruguay the word is “you can’t trust the local met office, better check what is happening in Buenos Aires, they are usually more on target”.

Categories: Economy, Environment, Argentina, Uruguay.

Top Comments

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Shed-time
So, the Argentines suggest what? Get the uneducated La Campora folks to force the meteorologists to say every day is a sunny day just so they get more business? Next thing, they'll be getting La Campora to fly their planes.

.... oh, wait.
Jan 19th, 2013 - 08:53 am 0
Joe Bloggs
Always someone else's fault now even the weather forecasters are to blame. Maybe the UK could send the one of their top weathermen. Say, Michael Fish?

One would imagine that, if it's starting to get a little tougher to make ends meet, paying someone to wash your car might be an early casualty a cost-cutting exercise. However if the car wash unions really think the forecasts are to blame they could always canvass to have INDEC take over the role. That way they could be sure that the number of forecast rainy days would be cut by at least two thirds.

BTW, Argentina can have Michael Fish. I met him in the Falklands once and he is a right dick.
Jan 19th, 2013 - 09:30 am 0
Raven
Agreed Joe.

Luxuries are always first to be hit when times are hard.

I wonder, is the Argentine met office really that bad?

I have to laugh at the idea of a Car Wash Union. I mean, seriously?!
Jan 19th, 2013 - 10:53 am 0

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