NWS guidelines are rather ambiguous concerning use of the word fair. Therefore, the use of the word fair in Juneau is being correctly interpreted by less than one-third of our users. The phrase partly cloudy was better understood by the respondents. This being the case, it could explain why some people will perceive a partly cloudy forecast as inaccurate because they could see blue sky the entire day. To lessen the confusion, it might be better to use partly sunny during the daytime forecast.
Rain is rain.
As mentioned before, the authors also wanted to test the community's understanding of the wind forecast. This is of particular interest to the Juneau office because forecasters write an extensive marine forecast twice a day. It is also significant because the wind observations given over NOAA Weather Radio and telephone recordings are read in knots. The goal was to determine whether the public had a clear understanding of the difference between miles per hour and knots, as well as what direction the wind was coming from. Respondents who missed the question probably have less exposure to the marine environment, but the concept is significant nevertheless, as these people will likely underestimate the winds that are reported regularly on NWS weather broadcasts.