Weather.com, What are they smoking?

[andyzee]

I know the weather reports are just getting worse and worse. I know the news media needs news and has a tendancy of creating it, but this is crazy. Since when does 1 to 2 inches of snow merit a Heavy Snow Warning? In the end, we just got a dusting and the news channels are all over it with reporters out on the street.

[Marc]

Don't get all pissy just because New Jersey sucks.

[riverc0il]

It would be really easy to pick on NJ about not being able to handle one or two inches and thus meriting a "Heavy Snow Warning." But when I lived north of Boston, folks around there couldn't handle more than a few inches either. Its all good, it is just a metro thing.

[andyzee]

Originally Posted by riverc0il

It would be really easy to pick on NJ about not being able to handle one or two inches and thus meriting a "Heavy Snow Warning." But when I lived north of Boston, folks around there couldn't handle more than a few inches either. Its all good, it is just a metro thing.

Now slow down a sec, who said NJ couldn't handle it. I'm saying, how the hell does the weather orgs issue a heavy snow warning for 1-2? Today's media does nothing but cause hysteria. I mean, I'm looking at the news and they are actually showing closing alerts. Damn, we got a dusting, nothing on the ground! If the news organizations didn't make such a big deal about nothing, I guarantee there would be no closings.

[riverc0il]

I was suggesting that the reason for the Heavy Snow Warning was justified by that region not being able to handle it For what it is worth, the University I work at closed down today and canceled all classes and we only have one inch on the ground so far. We are expecting up to a foot by the end of the storm, but still.

[loafer89]

When I lived on the North Shore of Long Island we used to get 6-12" dumps fairly regularly and they where handled really well by the department of works.

[billski]

and in North Carolina when it snows, everyone just stays home until it melts. They have no snow removal equipment.

on a related matter, I think weather.com is hiring too many marketing jocks. They can incite a panic anywhere in the country, and it gets them damn good ratings....

[andyzee]

Originally Posted by billski

and in North Carolina when it snows, everyone just stays home until it melts. They have no snow removal equipment.

on a related matter, I think weather.com is hiring too many marketing jocks. They can incite a panic anywhere in the country, and it gets them damn good ratings....

It's not just weather.com, it's all the media out there. I used weather.com as an example because of today's "Heavy Snow Warning", that was a joke.

[billski]

Originally Posted by riverc0il

I was suggesting that the reason for the Heavy Snow Warning was justified by that region not being able to handle it For what it is worth, the University I work at closed down today and canceled all classes and we only have one inch on the ground so far. We are expecting up to a foot by the end of the storm, but still.

Several, somewhat disjointed points,

Some of that behavior is being causes by our litigious society and what I call the "axe murderer, father raper syndrome."

AMS is the leap to judgment that any single male is potentially an axe murderer, father raper, father stabber, child abductor. Thanks to widespread rapid publicity about a real one, we perceive that there is one lurking in our neighborhood. As we now fear single males, we also fear hostile, dangerous, life-threatening weather events. Any storm could be potentially life-threatening (so can a walk down a hallway at home). Isn't it better safe than sorry?

The liability aspect has more to do with "making" people travel to work. The public schools catch crap if they call it wrong either way. Our town worries about kids walking on unplowed sidewalks. Some schools worry their staff can't get in, the parents won't show because their kids are at home, and stuff like that.

There are exceptions of course. Look at Harvard University. They never cancel classes. Then again, they are in the city, almost all students are nearby as are most professors and staff.

Most of the urban/suburban issues seem to have more to do with traffic volume and density. All it takes is one car not able to gain uphill traction to backup hundreds of cars. If you look at the events from last month, there were very few accidents, it was and still is the volume. I am working from home today, entirely because it will not take much road volume on a snowy day to bring things to a crawl. I just won't waste my time in traffic. My winter driving skills are useless when surrounded by several hundred of my closest driving buddies.

When I lived in the hinterlands, there was so little traffic that even if there was an incident you could readily get around it, providing you didn't stop to help, which we always did. (can't stop now, that lady looks like an axe murderer...)
Hmm. I better go get some work done....

[wa-loaf]

Originally Posted by andyzee

I know the weather reports are just getting worse and worse. I know the news media needs news and has a tendancy of creating it, but this is crazy. Since when does 1 to 2 inches of snow merit a Heavy Snow Warning? In the end, we just got a dusting and the news channels are all over it with reporters out on the street.

A heavy snow warning means 6 inches or more in 12 hour period and is put out by the NWS. So even though there may only be 1-2 expected by morning, they are expecting 6+ in the next 12 hours. You gotta read the warning itself.