Ho Ho Ho, let it snow! (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

Yes!!!!!!! we're getting a good snow cover so far from the looks of it. Time to break out the snowshoes and X-C skis.

2" so far, and by sunday, they say we may have 12-18" of fresh powder... I am looking so forward to this season, I just ordered some Nokian studded tires for my bike (did not have time to make them this year) and going to dig out the winter gear.

Ho Ho Ho

Jay

 

[DonnyD]

Gripes!!! It sleeted here just a little today and people were scurrying to the store in droves...... It's like people think we still live in the ice age or something......

 

[Andrej Dolenc]

*Added Bonus*
Road construction crews don't work and don't block off lanes on the highway. Sweet!

 

[david stark]

I would usually agree with you, but since my weekend in New York has been cancelled due to no flights there this weekend ******* snow go and snow in the mountains not at airports. grrrrrrrrr

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

What's "snow"?

 

[Rob Lutter]

I won't believe it till I see it!

 

[Eric Samonte]

Got a good 10 inches up here in NEPA...used my "inherited" snow thrower for the first time and arms r terribly sore today. I gotta learn to use those gears more efficiently....

 

[Malcolm R]

@!#!$%#$$ SNOW!

We were told on Friday to expect 1-3 inches total. We got about 18!

Yet another blown forecast by incompetent meteorologists. I think they should be paid based on their accuracy. That's got to be the only profession I know of where you get paid a lot of money for being wrong all the time and never having to take any responsibility for your screw-ups.

 

[Scott_J]

Malcolm, you think meteorologists get paid a lot of money? Ha. When I graduate in May with my Bachelor of Science degree in Atmospheric Science (Meteorology), I'll be lucky to start at $25000/yr before taxes. If I end up going into TV meteorology, the average starting salary is $14-19,000. TV meterologists don't get a lot of money until they get to the top 10 markets. Your meteorologists in Vermont probably don't make much more than mid 5 figures. I don't consider that to be a lot of money, for the challenge involved and all the shit they have to take from the viewing public.

And how ignorant is it to say that meteorologists are wrong "all the time," which obviously is not true. I honestly wasn't paying attention to the forecasts for VT, so I don't know what they were predicting up there, but as someone who forecasts for Albany for my classes, I can tell you that this storm was not able to be predicted accurately until late Thursday/early Friday. Just all of the various computer models we use kept flip-flopping with the track of the storm. One run, they'd take it into the northeast, like it did go. The next run would keep it to the south, giving the Mid-Atlantic the heaviest snow. Then the next run would bring it back up north. That's because the storm wasn't even around yet - it didn't form until Thursday, and models don't get a good grip on a storm until it actually forms. It wasn't until Thursday night that the models first seemed to get their stuff together and agreed not only with each other but with the previous run of each individual model. But by Friday morning, all of the meteorologists here in Albany, at least, had a good take on the storm and were predicting 12-20". We ended up with 18. This storm was tough to forecast up to Thursday night/Friday morning because those aforementioned computer models are all we have to forecast a storm - especially before it even forms. If the computer models were all over the place, as they were with this storm, the accuracy of the forecast suffers. I'm sorry if you weren't able to use your coupons on the DVD because you weren't expecting so much snow. But I'm even more sorry for the people who were injured in car accidents or who suffered property damage from down trees/power lines as a result of the storm. Please put your priorities into perspective and cut meteorologists some slack - it's not always easy predicting what's going to happen in nature - it's so unpredictable.

 

[Scooter]

Snow sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate snow...don't want it...it does nothing but cause accidents ....deaths...destruction!!!!!

Right now I am having visions of being in Tempe!!!!!

 

[Bill Slack]

Got a solid two feet here. I think this is the most snow I've ever experienced. Late this afternoon, some of the local roads around me still have not been plowed. I did manage to shovel my car out and get it moving a few minutes ago, at least.

It's very funny watching the Pats game and having snow shoveled into every few rows. And some people deciding to just sit in the snow. Forty-five thousand managed to show up for the game, despite the ~3hr drive from the city, because of the the weather.

 

[Jay H]

YYYYYYYEEEEHHHAAAAWWWWWW.. went out today for a 12 mile snowshoe hike, now I'm pooped but it's soo great to be out there and making first tracks as I got there early. I could see the whole entire NJ highlands all blanketed with snow... really pretty and to think that this is my backyard...

What really sucks is that the state is plowing alot of roads in the state forests which they normally don't do because of that stupid bear hunt. Otherwise, there is some fine X-C skiing on the unplowed roads here...

Jay

 

[Malcolm R]

Which is why every forecast should start with a disclaimer IMO. Instead of declarative statements like "tomorrow will be sunny, temps in the 50's, Friday will have rain, high near 40," it should be more like "we really have no idea what's going on, but these computers that tell us what to say are telling us to say that tomorrow will be sunny, temps in the 50's, Friday will have rain, high's near 40. But who's to say, really? It might or it might not."

 

[Scott_J]

Honestly, your mistake was paying attention to the Weather Channel's forecast. I wouldn't do that if I were you. The meteorologists on your local stations focus just on Vermont's forecast. The people at the Weather Channel don't so it's always more likely their forecast would be worse than from one of your local guys.

Which is why every forecast should start with a disclaimer IMO.

Isn't the word "forecast" enough of a disclaimer? Webster defines it as "a prophecy, estimate, or prediction of a future happening or condition." If that's not a disclaimer, I don't know what is. Do you want a 5-minute disclaimer before the start of the 2-minute weather segment on your local news?
And when there's precipitation involved in a particular forecast, they don't say "it will rain" unless there's an 80 percent chance or higher. If it's 30-50%, the word "chance" is included in the forecast. If it's 60-70%, "rain likely" is what the forecast would say. 80% or higher is considered categorical, and no qualifier is needed - i.e. the forecast would just say "rain" or "snow." And whenever precip is mentioned in a forecast, the POP (probability of precip) is mentioned in the forecast. Of course these are just the accepted rules of forecasting and obviously not all meteorologists abide by them, unfortunately. But the key here is that I have never heard a meteorologist say their forecast is absolutely what's going to happen - no doubt about it. Which is why anyone who watches a weather forecast should prepare for other conditions to possibly occur. And whenever there's snow in the forecast, you should be prepared just in case it's more than is being forecast. Obviously, that's always a possibility.

There's a reason meteorology is considered an inexact science, but the technology we have is the best we have right now, so it'll have to do but until you make your own forecasts, give meteorologists a break. Nobody is right about anything 100% of the time, not even you Malcolm. I'm sure you make mistakes at your job on occasion, everyone does. It's just that meteorologists' mistakes are more public than most people's mistakes they make at their jobs.

 

[LewB]

My 2 cents, In no particular order.
- Isn't it supposed to snow in December ?
- News programs who make snow (any time during the winter) a major story to be covered by numerous people 'in the field' providing insite like 'the roads are slick' and the obligatory shots of the poor bastards stuck at the local air ports.
- The US leads the world in SUVs, who's ads show them climbing mountains and crossing streams. Owners of the aforementioned SUVs feel obliged to be the first to lose control of the vehicle in 3 inches of snow and cause property damage and bodily injury.
- Schools that close or cancel before a single flake has fallen. Schools here let out early, first snow was around 9 PM. I wonder if those kids had stayed in class a bit longer, they might have learned about friction so when they grow up they won't become the SUV statistics I mentioned in the previous item.

OK, I'm done

 

[Tony Whalen]

Lew, love your points about SUV's. Ain't it the truth?

Personally, living in Alberta, Canada... it's days like this that I think about moving to Las Vegas.

 

[Steve_Tk]

One time in Atlanta we got 3 inches and it was considered a Blizzard. The whole city shut down and we all almost died (at least that's what you would think when people tell the story).

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I'd be a bigger fan of snow if I could get it and a temperature of 72 degrees at the same time. We've got some snow on the ground but nothing problematic yet, we usually have either really harsh winters in South Dakota or really mild ones. One year we had snow on the ground from the last week in September to the first week in May.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I'd be a bigger fan of snow if I could get it and a temperature of 72 degrees at the same time.

I really enjoy taking a day off in late May and going over the Sierra pass roads just after they open for the year. You get tremendous snow drifts on both sides of the road but with dry pavement and temps around 72 degrees......nothing like driving a Miata with the top down in your shirtsleeves through the snow.

 

[Malcolm R]

Well, word is there's another snowstorm coming for Sunday/Monday. The media in this area is doing their best to hype it up and panic everyone already. We'll see in a couple days if it's all justified.