Where do you get your information?
I was scrolling through social media and came across a post by a meteorologist who works at one of the local TV news stations here in town. She had reposted a photo that she said was a viewer submission of some clouds.
photo by Kami Hanan - posted with permission
“Our viewer Kami Hanan shared this photo at Edmond Memorial Stadium & asked “what are these rays?”.
Answer: anticrepuscular rays! How do we know? This view is facing EAST while the sun was setting in the west. This is due to backscattering of light.
So the next time you see beams of light with the sunset (called crepuscular rays), turn around and look east - you may see anticrepuscular rays!”
What was amazing about this (other than those clouds, obviously)? It was so out of the ordinary that it caught my attention.
IMAGINE IT!
Asking a scientist with a degree in meteorology about clouds. Seems like 1+1=2 but that’s not common practice. Actually, it’s the first time I’ve seen it.
I usually see a photo posted to their personal account and then a question to the masses - What is this? What should I do? Should I? Shouldn’t I? Do I need to be seen? Is this serious?
This practice invites the opinions of anyone who may scroll past to contribute their 2 cents. Knowing the nature of social media as we do, you will probably end up with people you know fighting in the comments. You also now have a ton of opinions to sift through. Did anyone leave any credentials with their opinion? If not, do you give everyone the same weight? Like a vote? (Are we giving classmates from high school back in the day the same weight as a CPA when we’re asking tax questions?)
In this situation, the original poster avoided all this unnecessary drama and sent her question to one person - the right person. When she received an answer, we can all feel good about the information received.
The end result was less stress for everyone involved.