Living here in Charlotte, right between the mountains and the sea, it frustrates me to no end when the weathermen ALWAYS get it wrong in regards to winter weather. There is no use trying to make any sort of winter action plan based on the weather reports because as soon as you stock up on toilet paper, batteries and of course milk and bread it'll be 60 degrees and sunshiny. Over the last few weeks there's been a few threats of some winter weather. With our local forecasters even the tiniest of little hint of any sort of winter weather suddenly it's the lead off story on the news and all the reporters are standing in front of the slag truck garage. And then...NOTHING! It's probably my biggest pet peeve and I believe it stems all the way back to my childhood when I'd believe the weatherman when he would call for snow the next day. I wouldn't do my homework feeling save to assume there would be no school in the morning. Of course I'd wake up due to the sun shining across my sleeping face and have to go to school empty handed and dejected from the shame I was about to feel for not having my very important math assignment. About this time last year our trusty weathermen were at it again - trying to warn us of some upcoming frozen precipitation. Being a mom, single mom at that, I needed to have an idea of what was going on with the weather for no other reason than to find some sort of childcare for my boy if I had to brave the ice storm to earn my living. Would school close? Would my work be ok if I stayed home? Would I be compelled to make French toast (hence the need for the milk and bread)? I just needed to be prepared. Some sort of accuracy isn't too much to ask for from a whole team of weather forecasters. Did I get accuracy? No. But I did get inspired to write about it. Due to this years missed marks, recently someone asked me about that little written rant so I thought I'd re-post it here...Originally written on 1/20/2009 and the follow-up written on 2/4/2009 here's my opinion of the weatherman...
WHY I STRONGLY DISLIKE THE WEATHERMAN 1/20/2009
They say that predicting the weather here in the Charlotte Metro area is a tough gig. Being located east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and just north of a place where oranges grow year round puts us in some sort of little bubble of space where getting the weather right is virtually impossible. Well, impossible if you're talking about snow. Let's face it, our tried and true local weathermen (and ladies), can tell you right down to the neighborhood where the jet stream will travel, will indicate by Power Doppler Plus the likelihood of widely scattered precipitation, go around town in a van they call the STORM CHASER and tell you when it's time to run for your lives ahead of a tornado. The dew point makes sense to a weatherman and they know the significance of the barometric pressure. They recognize La Nina or El Nino (whichever) when it's in a holding pattern over the midsection of the country and how a cold arctic wind might barrel down from Canada. They can tell you almost to the minute when the rain will start, will stop, how much or how little, the possibility of flooding and exactly when the Catawba River will crest and overflow it's banks. But mention "SNOW" and the and the otherwise highly intellengent, massively educated, respected weatherman might as well forecast just like my dear grandmother did when she would say, "My arthritis is flaring up, I think it's gonna snow!"
I watch the news everyday and I pay attention to the "seven day outlook" because I like to be in the know. Not one word of a single flake of snow was forecasted for my area during last weeks "Seven Day Outlook". Not a word, not a single snowflake TV weather graphic. So I was completely caught off guard yesterday morning when I woke up and heard our local predictors telling me that snow was heading our way! Snow! And they actually said this was the best chance we've had for significant snow in years! How exciting! But I know about the weathermen and how they tend to miss the mark around here when it comes to the white stuff and I tried not to get excited. But the more they talked about possibly 5 inches of snow, maybe more in the 'outlying' areas (where I live) the more exicted I got. No, No, No...my mantra in regards to snow is "I'll believe it when I see it". But the weathermen and their inflated predictions trickled down to the news anchors, to the talk radio people and then infiltrated the public in general. By the time I got to work I started rearranging my schedule, planning for Matthew's school closing, assessing my needs for milk and bread. I planned our snowman's location in our wintery front yard, I contemplated buying a sled for Matt, I made sure we had hot chocolate. And then I waited for the glorious snow to come fill up our town.
I went to bed late. I was a little excited because the news - and it's trusty weatherman - pounded the idea of a WINTER BLAST into my mind. Matthew was thrilled at the prospect of a day home from school. Finally, after looking up at the street light at least 100 times, straining to see the first flakes, I fell asleep. I woke up at 5 this morning, expecting to cast my eyes upon a winter wonderland only to hear the newsman say Gaston County Schools were OPEN! Damn. I fell for it again. Disappointed little Matthew will have to go to school, I will have to go to work this morning and I have more milk and bread then I know what to do with. But do I have snow? No. Well, barely 10 flakes, maybe. And that's why I strongly dislike the weatherman.
What makes the whole thing even worse is how the local morning news handles the "WINTER BLAST, 2009!" They've had "a crew on the streets since 4 this morning", they're sticking rulers into a dusting of snow and actually reporting it. I heard a reporter this morning talking about driving in the "winter conditions" by saying the roads were ok, the snowy buildups were on the grass and the shoulders of the roads. He actually "WARNED" us to stay off the grass and shoulders of the roads and we should be ok driving into work. I contend that if you generally drive on the grass and shoulders of the roads you shouldn't be driving - even in the clear sunshine. And does the misguided the weatherman say a word about his gross miscalculation of accumulation? No. He simply shows us on the "Storm Tracker Radar System" that the "worst of the arctic blast is behind us". The "ARCTIC BLAST" in my neighborhood looks like any other frost covered morning. Hardly a reason to send out "The Storm Chaser Team"! In other news this morning there's The Historic Inauguration of Barack Obama, A Cease Fire between the Israelis and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and a Salmonella Outbreak in Peanut Butter Crackers which has killed scores of people across the country but did we hear about any of it? No. We heard about how I-77 was WET yet open to traffic and moving along nicely. And we saw pictures "sent in by viewers" of peoples backyards. No wonder our Northern friends laugh at us - when a light dusting of snow is called a "WINTER BLAST"!
...and a few weeks later when the silly weathermen were at it again I wrote...
A COMEDY OF WEATHER REPORTING 2/4/2009
You might remember a few weeks ago I wrote about the weather men and how hard a job it must be to predict the weather here in the Charlotte Metro. I also talked about the news reporters and the big fuss they make over 10 flakes of snow. The whole "WINTER BLAST" of it all. Well, this morning our local informers strike again!
I will give some credit where credit is due...yesterday the weathermen (and ladies) were telling us of a massive winter storm was heading into the high country. Up to 8 inches of snow (constitutes a massive winter storm here in the South) was possible along with frigid temperatures, wind chills and white out conditions. They warned us to stay off the roads if you were in the NC mountains as the conditions were going to be treacherous. In the mountains only. The weatherman on channel 3 said it specifically when he told the anchors that Mecklenburg County might see a few flurries but hardly a reason to get excited and certainly not enough weather to close the schools. Then they went on about the news.
I was talking to a neighbor last evening about the dark, ominous clouds hanging over head, the cold wind blowing and the feeling of moisture in the air. We discussed how the weathermen got it wrong last time and how it would be funny if this time they predicted no snow in the forecast and it would manage to snow! However, I listened to and trusted my local meteorologists and felt safe assuming that no snow was in my near future. Even though the skies said otherwise. Based on what the weatherman said I did not get prepared for any sort of WINTER BLAST. I had no bread and very little milk but I was ok with that. I wasn't compelled to stock up on "supplies", I just went on about business as usual just like any other school night.
So again, imagine my suprise when I woke up at 5:30 this morning, turned on the news and saw how Charlotte had 3 inches of snow, there were wrecks all over the highways due to the winter conditions and all the schools were CLOSED! (Well, all of them except for GASTON COUNTY - where little Matthew goes, but more on that in a minute). What happened to "a few flurries but nothing exciting in the Charlotte Metro area? Thanks again to our trusty weather predictors everyone was completely caught off guard with this actual WINTER BLAST! Without expecting to cover some sort of frozen precipitation the news reporters hadn't been standing out beside I-77 all night long. Instead they had to navigate sheets of ice and snow covered roadways this morning to get to the money shots. On channel 36 this morning the reporter and his photographer were "heading to the scene" in the mobile news van when they hit a patch of ice on I-485, "did a 360" and landed in the median. They had to get a tow truck to get out of the ditch they were stuck in. I had to laugh when the reporter - all desheveled and missing his hat - then interviewed none other than the actual tow truck driver about the road conditions! It seems to me that perhaps some salt trucks should have been out there before the news van landed in a ditch. But no. Evidently the Department of Transportation listens to the weathermen when they say "nothing to get excited about here in the Metro area".
Meanwhile, during last months "WINTER BLAST" where the only white stuff on our roads was the salt put down - courtesy of the Gaston County tax payers - Gaston County schools stayed open. So, little Matthew and I braved the slag covered roadways and made it on into school that day despite every other school district in our area closing down. Still, Gaston County Schools took a little heat for that decision even though the the roads were DRY even before the sun came up. Some people complained and Gaston County vowed to be more careful with any future winter weather. This time around, every school from Chesterfield County, South Carolina to the North Carolina - Tennessee boarder is closed EXCEPT for Gaston County, who is "operating on a 2 hour delay". I guess the guy that makes the decisions for our school district is from upstate New York where the children go to school in 3 feet of snow!
The news has pre-empted the Today Show to bring us more pictures of peoples backyards - sent in by viewers, but has any weatherman apologized for the major blunder? No. They've just rolled up their sleeves and continuted to update the winter weather conditions brought to you by the Power Doppler Plus and basking in the extra attention. And the reporter - despite sending the Mobile News Room into a ditch has just said "The News Must Go On"! Indeed. You watch this afternoon - one of these channels will be saying "When Winter Weather Strikes you can count on us!" and "We were the FIRST to bring you news about the WINTER BLAST..." and so on. I'm going to hate to see us in some real, actual weather emergency. Seriously, this is one of the reasons the South gets a bad wrap!
