Here's the headline in yesterday's News-Sentinal. The secondary headline is School canceled, but accumulation not overwhelming. Read it here The article goes on with a sarcastic account about how the weather community really over did this storm. Read the first line of this article, "Though the early morning was tame compared to the ballyhoo of dire weather predictions." So Jeff Wiehe is basically calling us all clowns and bags of wind. I guess after 22 years in this business I should have a little tougher skin but this kind of coverage really gets my ire up. First of all, I never saw the word opinion at the top of the article. I guess I missed it because this was not a news account it was all some newspaper guys opinion. Mr. Wiehe thought is was just a bunch of tv weather people tooting their horns a little too much for what amounted to almost nothing. (Although just about every school from Fort Wayne to the north was closed for the day).
The street crews did a tremendous job clearing the roads early Friday morning so that really helped drivers and there were probably fewer accidents then I expected. Then there's the whole attitude from some folks that it's Winter and it snows! Yep it does. I think that those of you who read this blog know what kind of work I put into forecasting a storm. The whole point of this blog is to give you insight into what my job is all about. Articles like this one set the industry back 20 years though. People who don't really understand the science will begin to gripe about the forecasting and say 'boy you really missed that one'. Well, the fact is that I didn't miss that one! If you go back and look at my blog over the last several days you will see my thoughts on this system. Why I decided to hold back on bringing in large amounts of snow because of the track of the low pressure to our south. How I wrote that Fort Wayne was going to be the 'cut off' point for rain, sleet and snow.
I'm glad that there was no snow emergencies and dispatchers expected more. What it comes down to is that the snow was expected and it happened. It wasn't the biggest system we've ever seen and it didn't paralyze the city of Fort Wayne. All good things in my book. States of emergencies should be for extreme situations and yesterday was not an extreme situation.
After all, it's January and it that's what supposed to happen in January it snowed!
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2 comments:
I love the writers who talk down about someone or someone's job yet has no clue to how the job is performed. Invite him over to the station and give him a set of maps, computer runs, and turn him free. We will see who has the last laugh then....
I think we all suffer from wanting to know how much snow is going to fall on our street. Heck, we don't care about the people across town. Just kidding...
The thing I find interesting is 4 inches of snow, in general is about 3/8 inch of water/rain. 8 inches is a little under 3/4 inch of water/rain. During the warm months none of us think twice about who gets the 3/8 or 3/4 inch of rain. No big deal. Come winter it is a big deal.
I am just wondering and propose this as a question. With so many items that need to join up just right in a snow storm to make it a "big one" can it be done with computers? I am thinking when a person trys to forcest the exact area that it will fall in.
Had someone taken a line from Wabash to Coldwater and said people living within 20 miles of this line may see from 4-8 inches of snow. That would have been dead on.
I also wonder if the models are off slightly this year in the fact that storm tracks forcast to travel over Fort Wayne have been 30-40 miles west/northwest of us?
Greg, don't let some dumb dumb get to you. Remember, he had nothing else the editor trusted him with that day but to blast you guys doing the weather. He has pretty shallow life.
Keep up the good work and it will be fun learning from you. I have always enjoyed watching mother nature. I am one of those people who grabs a radio scanner and stands on his front porch looking at the storm clouds. Waiting to hear what ham radio operators, firemen, or policemen are seeing.
Didn't you know it's your fault when something weather-related happens?
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