Budapest: Locals are generally not impressed with the accuracy of the weather department. It is not uncommon for our meteorologists to be wrong in their predictions within limits. But in Hungary, which is more efficient in terms of forecasting, weather forecasting has caused a big fuss. Hungary has fired two meteorologists for making a mistake in their forecast. The situation led to the sacking of the officials following the developments following the wrong weather forecast led to major political controversy in the country.
A fireworks display in Budapest as part of St Stephen’s Day celebrations had to be postponed due to faulty weather forecasts. The event was scheduled for last Saturday. All the preparations were done. But there was a warning that the weather would turn bad during the fireworks display. Due to this, the government announced seven hours before the fireworks that the event was being postponed. But there was no change in the weather as predicted. This led to the dismissal of the emergency personnel.
There was supposed to be a massive firework display which was described as the biggest firework display in Europe. The event is held in an area of regarding five kilometers along the banks of the Danube River. Fireworks are held at 240 centers here. About 20 lakh people come to watch the program.
The Meteorological Department had predicted heavy rain at the time of the fireworks display. Due to this, the program was postponed for a week. But the rain did not come at the expected place. The rain clouds that were expected to fall in the region including Budapest moved to the eastern regions of the country and brought heavy rain there. But not a single drop of rain fell in Budapest.
After the rain forecast failed, the Meteorological Department apologized on social media on Sunday. In an explanation statement, the Meteorological Department said that they had made a weather forecast that was not expected to be wrong, but such uncertainties are part of weather forecasting. But apologies were of no avail. The government has sacked two department heads for causing huge loss and embarrassment to the country by falsifying the forecast.
At the same time, objections once morest the fireworks display had already been raised in the country. A petition signed by 100,000 people was submitted to the government demanding that there should be no fireworks and austerity measures should be taken in the country during the war in neighboring Ukraine. However, the supporters of the government came forward once morest the weather department for making a wrong forecast and disrupting the event.
