If We ‘Never Learn Less’ as Seminar Gurus Insist, What Was Learned from the Wind that Wasn't?

Having spent three long days volunteering at the Sony Open with another to go, we’re going to keep this short. Plenty has been written already about the predicted big wind that didn’t arrive. But there is something worth wondering about, even briefly:

Was anything learned from what many are calling an over-reaction to weather service predictions of heavy winds yesterday?

One senior civil defense official is quoted as saying if given the same weather information, he’d make the same recommendation to close down schools and government offices. “Given the same factors, that would be the prudent thing to do,” he said.

But first, maybe the prudent thing to do before the next big-wind prediction would be to sit down with the weather service and try to learn something from what just happened.

Put in another context, few military leaders would insist on conducting exactly the same operational maneuver after the first one failed. They’d learn from the failure and plan accordingly.

At a minimum, that’s what citizens expect from their civil defense officials following Friday's non-wind experience.