Weather Tip: Get Several Forecasts; 1 May Be Right

When Natalie Klasky set out to investigate the weather predictions of the L.A. Times, KNBC-TV Channel 4 and America Online, she didn’t know which source would prove to be the best and which would be on the fritz.

Natalie, a fourth-grader who conducted the survey as a science project for 3rd Street Elementary School in L.A., found that The Times was most accurate on 10 days, followed by KNBC with eight and America Online with four.

Forecasting the weather isn’t an exact science, however. In the daily predictions of the high temperatures, for instance, AOL was off by an average of 3.7 degrees, The Times by 4.4 degrees and KNBC by 5.1 degrees. Natalie’s conclusion: “One should never depend on one weather resource.”

I respectfully disagree. I always rely on the famed forecast given by George Plimpton, the weatherman in the Steve Martin movie “L.A. Story.” His complete report:

“Sunny, 72. And that’s the weather. Our next weather report will be in four days.”

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AND NOW FOR THE TRAFFIC: In San Diego, Shannon Hayes saw a TV traffic report given by Tori DeLay. With a last name like that, she should be giving freeway bulletins in L.A.

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NAME GAME (CONT.): Jeff Bringle found a repair shop technician in the Simi Valley who shares the name of a famous singer (see accompanying). The technician’s card says he specializes in Toyotas. Bringle asks: “What about Beetles?”

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HARE TODAY . . . : Well, it’s Eastertime and I had to get out a sad note that Brad Alan Lewis of Pacific Palisades sent me last April, containing a shot of a bunny who won’t be back this year (see photo).

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CELEBRITY VIRUSES: The publicity afforded the Melissa computer virus prompted an anonymous Internet writer to offer some variants named after well-known people:

* Roseanne virus: Plays the National Anthem at boot-up. Even worse with a sound card.

* Martha Stewart virus: Sorts all your files by category and folds them into cute little doilies to be displayed on your desktop.

* Geraldo Rivera virus: Digs dirt out of your files, but airs the dirt for all to see.

* Mike Tyson virus: Quits after two bytes.

* Ted Turner virus: Colors your monochrome monitor.

* Leona Helmsley virus: Deletes files smaller than it is.

* Jane Fonda virus: Runs your hard drive for a 60-minute workout.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger virus: Terminates your files. Even if you get rid of this virus, it’ll be back.

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SACRE BLEU! The other day this column printed a real estate ad that contained a disastrous attempt at spelling the French phrase for a street that is closed at one end. The boo-boo struck a chord with Bill Fawcett, who remembered that his daughter used to say she lived on a “cola sack.”

miscelLAny:

Did you notice those billboards around town that said: “Ten Things I Hate About You . . . March 31”? Well, they referred to the opening of a movie. But why did they have to attach my birthday to that horrible statement? I’m going on vacation to recover. Au revoir.

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In a week, Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at [email protected] and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.