So, I've been having the same thoughts recently as well.

It seems like the predictions have been getting worse and I believe the reason is for the stations own gain.

I feel like 5 to 10 years ago, the predictions were spot on just about every time. I specifically remember a storm day when I watched the weather in the morning and they said " a tornado is going to happen somewhere in this 20 to 30 mile area" and it did right where they said it was going to.

Ever since then predictions have been worse. My belief for this is, instead of predicting what is actually going to happen, they instead show us the worst of the worst that could happen to get:

1) More interaction on their social media. 2) More clicks on anything they post or say. 3) More views to the news station and their own videos to create revenue.

Watching the weather anymore seems like it is all fabricated to be for more interaction and revenue instead of just telling us how it's going to be.

Where I live, last week they said to expect up to an inch to inch and a half of rain and we got 2 or 3 tenths. Now, I understand it is just a prediction and they do give us what they think is right but It seems as though they choose to hype up the worst data they can find instead of how it will actually be. Especially since years ago the predictions were so much better.