SNOW IN JULY? THE MIRACLES OF MODERN SCIENCE

Even though most Americans find ways to avoid the extremes of weather, they rely more and more on weather forecasts and reports about current conditions. They look at the Weather Channel and say to themselves, "It's as hot as blazes outside." Instead of watching a TV program beamed by satellite from Atlanta, they could step outdoors and check the weather for themselves.

And so the National Weather Service continues to provide a prominent role in our national fabric. The latest at the Weather Service is a nationwide upgrade of forecasting gizmos, called the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System, which cost $3.5 million at the Weather Service facility in Paducah alone. AWIPS joins NEXRAD and a whole bunch of other acronyms in an effort to tell us the weather before it happens.

Of course, machines go nuts once in a while. Just days after getting the new equipment, the Weather Service computers on Wednesday determined that it was snowing for three hours. Wishful thinking is what we would call it.