That's the rub, Paul. Forecast dangerous weather and people think you're loony when it doesn't happen. But forecast mild and then somebody gets hurt or worse, and then they howl that you didn't warn them. It's probably better to cry wolf than shrug and let people get killed.
I once wrote one of our local weathermen, who has since moved on to something else, about the fact that there are weather watches and warnings issued pretty much from the end of March to the start of November. He said that a number of years ago, during the Clinton administration if I remember correctly, a tornado came out of nowhere in Alabama. The National Weather Circus was told that that would never happen again, hence the constant running in circles yelling that the sky is falling.
