Hungarian weather officials fired after 'inaccurate' forecast
The fired officials were Kornelia Radics, the head of Hungary's National Meteorological Service, and her deputy, Gyula Horvath
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY: View of the parliament building in 1995 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Santi Visalli/Getty Images)
(Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
On Monday, two top Hungarian officials were fired after a weather forecast for an important event in the country turned out to be inaccurate.
The event was a fireworks show in honor of St. Stephen’s Day, a holiday annually hosted in the Hungarian capital of Budapest on Aug. 20 to celebrate the birth and history of Christianity in Hungary. The show usually draws more than a million spectators.
Leading up to the holiday, Hungary’s National Meteorological Service called for 75-80 percent chance of rain during the fireworks display’s start time of 9 p.m. on Aug. 20. Out of safety concerns, this forecast led to the fireworks show being rescheduled for Saturday, Aug. 27.
However, the storms that were forecast for the original event date did not materialize.
The head of Hungary’s National Meteorological Service Kornelia Radics, and her deputy Gyula Horvath were later fired.
Notice about the firings was announced by the Hungarian Ministry of Innovation and Technology, which is led by Minister Laszlo Palkovics (picture here at the Quadrilateral Infrastructure Council in Istanbul, Turkey on July 05, 2022).
(Mehmet Eser / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Suspicions regarding the basis of the officials' firing have circulated.
In an interview with Hungarian news outlet Telex, Horvath stated that he was not part of the decision-making related to the St. Stephen's Day fireworks.
"I have been working in meteorological measurement and observation for 22 years, always to the best of my ability," he said. "Hearing this was painful, but since there is nothing I can do about it, I have accepted it."
The National Meteorological Service released a statement on Monday, calling the firings of Horvath and Radics "unacceptable" and "groundless".
Weather made a significant impact on St. Stephens Day celebrations 16 years ago.
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Image 1 of 2Budapest, HUNGARY: An injured woman is helped by a rescue worker in the traumatology ward of the Accident Institute of Budapest 20 August 2006. (PETER E. VARKONYI/AFP via Getty Images)
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Image 2 of 2Budapest, HUNGARY: Local workers clean the road on a bank of the Danube river, at the site of the national day celebrations in Budapest 20 August 2006. (PETER E. VARKONYI/AFP via Getty Images)
According to the Hungarian news outlet Origo, a violent storm hit Budapest during the fireworks display over the Danube River on Aug. 20, 2006.
The inclement weather caused five fatalities, including a woman who had a heart attack, a 12-year-old girl and a man who were killed by a falling tree and two people whose boat capsized during the storm. The weather also caused crowds at the event to stampede, leading to hundreds of injuries, according to Hungary Today.
"While forecasting has improved by leaps and bounds the past few decades, it still is and may never be perfect," said the FOX Weather Forecast Center. "This is especially true with severe weather where subtle changes in the atmospheric conditions at small scales can have a big impact on the type of weather that ultimately occurs. We simply don't have the technology to model the atmosphere at that fine of detail."
"So even if the parameters in the atmosphere are conducive for destructive storms to form in a given area, not everyone will see them," they added. "That's what happened in Budapest. Severe weather did occur, but it hit towns 15 miles south/southwest of the city – that's too close for comfort, and I'd argue it was an accurate forecast."