WATCH: Weatherman outsmarted as civilian schools him on Hurricane Irma threat

A US weatherman has suffered an embarrassingly public lesson in the importance of fine detail by a Miami Beach man who seemed to thoroughly understand the risks of Hurricane Irma.

The presenter's knowledge of the movement of the storm fell way short of what the passer-by could tell the audience at a second's notice.

"What do you think about the storm, the risk to your own safety at this point?" the weatherman ventured as the gentleman strolled towards the beach amid gusty winds.

The man has not been identified but has been dubbed one of Fox News' smartest ever talking heads by an enraptured social media crowd. Photo: Fox News/Twitter
The man has not been identified but has been dubbed one of Fox News' smartest ever talking heads by an enraptured social media crowd. Photo: Fox News/Twitter

"Well, at this point I'm very relieved to discover that as we speak the eye of the storm is practically due south of us by 220 miles (354 kilometres), okay, because it's crossing the 80th meridian, which is 80 degrees west longitude."

"So I'm not so worried because it's so far away and it's bearing as of 8pm..."

The weatherman was not about to have his fears of an impending disaster dashed just because his vox pop target seemed to understand the threat.


“...Westward,” the weatherman interjected, against what he likely now considers better judgement.

"Well, not just westbound, but 275 degrees,” said the nameless weather watcher.

“That's only one 15th above due west toward true north, so this thing is moving and has been moving in a very westerly direction, and because it's several hundred miles south, the risks are less and less.

A satellite image from September 8 shows Hurricane Irma barrelling towards Cuba and Florida. Photo: NOAA via AP
A satellite image from September 8 shows Hurricane Irma barrelling towards Cuba and Florida. Photo: NOAA via AP

"I don't think it's going to get any worse than what we're seeing here right now."

With that, Fox’s man beat a hasty retreat, back towards the swollen ocean and, one short tweet later, he found himself in the eye of an altogether different storm.

“GET DUNKED ON WEATHER MAN”, howled the @BarStoolBigCat's tweet with a video of the exchange, which was promptly retweeted about 20,000 times.

The gentleman in the clip is now being hailed as the smartest person ever to appear on Fox News by several media outlets.