This past week our weathermen have been reporting on this band of snow that is coming our way. Depending on your location you can expect 1-10". Last night the three stations narrowed down the totals to 3-5". No problem, I can get the driveway cleared in no time.

I turn on the news this morning and I see every school in the area closed. WTF, 3-5" shouldn't be enough to close every school. Go outside and measured 8" in the driveway. How can these guys keep their jobs?

I know, I wish I could be wrong half the time and not worry about it. First snow day in three years in KM district.

quote:

How can these guys keep their jobs?

Educated guess I think.
weather reporting station five miles from my home,my weather is always different,both in temperature and rain amounts and there is the always throwing out that snow word,what a load .

Pilot / Flight Instructor here, so I keep a close eye on weather, I use multiple sources for the information.

I don't really do primary instruction ("Flying 101, Made Easy For Beginners") any more. My main focus is on instrument flying, so I do look for adverse weather other than conditions like icing (not too common here in Florida) or thunderstorms. Moderately "bad" weather is great for instrument training flights.

It has been my experience, doing this for many years (my first Flight Instructor certificate was issued over fifty years ago) that with very, very, rare exceptions, the forecast are almost always pessimistic. That is, the forecasts almost universally predict weather that is significantly worse than the weather that we actually get.

I guess this is sort of a "CYA" thing on the part of those who disseminate weather information, but it is not A Good Thing. Undesirable outcomes include foregoing of too many flights that would / could have been really great from an instructional standpoint, or alternatively, we develop the tendency to minimize warnings because they cried "Wolf!" too often.

it's easy to see why admnistrators like snow days.They don't have to hire substitute teachers, or turn up the heat, or run the busses, or fix lunch, etc. A snow day must save a lot of money for a big school district.

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Originally posted by LtJL:
it's easy to see why admnistrators like snow days.They don't have to hire substitute teachers, or turn up the heat, or run the busses, or fix lunch, etc. A snow day must save a lot of money for a big school district.

Take too many, and it starts to eat into Federal funding, or at least that's what they told us in the last little pudunk town at the northern tip of New York state. We had to have a plow truck come and pull the school bus out of the ditch right in front of our house on one of those two hour delays. We made it to the school and assembled in the gymn with the heat off, they took role and sent us home. The teachers were hopping pissed off at the risks they were making everyone take "just to get the funding." So, no, I don't think they save any money.

I’m surprised V-tail didn’t mention what every pilot of any experience knows, that there are two kinds of weather, better than forecast and worse than forecast.

My dad was instrument rated and we owned several planes. One of his mottos, that he likely abused several times (I suspect all experienced pilots have flown when in hindsight they shouldn't have) was: "Flying is a great way to travel if you have a lot of time" Meaning you had to know when to fold them and respect the weather.

He got his instrument rating probably about the same time as V-Tail. I can remember how hard he studied for that. I respected him then and now for his diligence. I taught me what it took to earn something difficult.

Same here. The news got everyone excited saying 10” and it is looking like 6 on average by late tonight. At least traffic was lighter on my way in.

Consultants and Meteorologists - well paid even if wrong

Who wants to work on a Friday?

Our last snow was calling for 8 to 12. Here on the coast it must have included more rain than first tought because it was maybe 5 inches. Not a problem but what really gets me is that the Weather channel named a storm like that.

I guess they think any storm, regardless of how small must be named so they can fire up the graphics machine and start calling for the end of the world.

They predicted Death Storm 2018 for overnight, but we got a mere 2-3 inches. So when they say we'll get another 3 tonight, I'm skeptical. In fairness, they've been accurate over the past two weeks.

Until last night.

We got 10" or so yesterday into early this morning...out here that's simply...Friday. No big deal.

At least once a season they get all geared up to promote the Killer Winter Storm of the Year and gin up a bunch of hype and panic for ratings. We are way down in total snow fall this winter in SE WI, even though it's been plenty cold. It's getting late in the season and the local media is getting desperate, so they picked this one to hype. And it pretty much fizzled out.

But a bunch of schools jumped the gun last night and called a snow day, so at least 3/4 of my department is out today. It's like a holiday around here.

Forecast here was 3"-5", been plowing the driveway, it is 12" and still falling though pretty light now.
As I live between Custer and Hot Springs, I have to interprelate the two forecasts. Always thought February was the worst month! We do need moisture any way it comes!

Well, it was finally deep enough I had to snowblow the lab a race track around the back yard so she could do her business comfortably. Showing 13" on the measurement, probably 8 or 9 of that is new.