Chief of the weathermen

A friend sent me this joke which is an old one but still amusing and, surprisingly for me, remarkably clean

As the weather started to turn cold and the nights closed in, the Native Americans on their remote reservation, as they had done for generations, approached their chief and asked if the winter would be a mild or severe one.
The chief was new and college educated and had never been taught the age old secrets of reading the skies, the earth, berries or buffalo to predict the weather. When he looked at the sky all he saw was . . . sky.
So, working out it was perhaps safest to prepare for the worst, just in case, he declared it would be a cold winter and advised collecting firewood.
A few days later, just to be sure, he phoned the local National Weather Service and asked if it really would be a cold winter.
"It is beginning to look that way," said the meteorologist.
So the chief told his people to collect even more wood. A week later he phoned the National Weather Service again to make doubly sure.
"It is going to be a cold one all right," the meteorologist told him so the chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood.
The weather continued to be mild though so two weeks later he phoned the weather service again to see if they were absolutely sure that it was going to be a very cold winter.
"We're sure," said the meteorologist.
"Absolutely?" said the chief.
"Absolutely. No doubt!" said the meteorologist.
"How can you be so sure?" said the chief.
"You kidding?" said the meteorologist. "The Native Americans all are collecting firewood like there is no tomorrow!"

Remember this little tale the next time the government or any official body issues figures or statistics.