Wednesday night's thunder snow was quite an amazing meteorological event. I was geeked out beyond all geekdom, going from radar screens to my balcony to The Weather Channel. But what I had not thought about was the roadways.
With the government letting employees go at 3, when the storm was just starting to hit, the situation became dire. Heavy snow hit the region in the peak of an early rush hour.
Sunset Boulevard cancelled it's performance and many were already en route to the theatre. I have heard tales of 6-9 hours in a car from several people. Conditions deteriorated so rapidly, that many were caught off guard about how much snow, the quality of the snow, and the poor visibility.
I had an exchange with a Giant clerk on Tuesday. Let's just call her "Patty". She saw me buying Duraflame logs and getting a few other supplies, and she rolled her eyes and told another customer that I was overreacting and rolled her eyes. She then went on to tell me that it was only going to be rain, and that she saw that on the news a day ago.
Now folks, if you are reading this, I think you fairly know me. I was LITERALLY on the web on my phone while in line, monitoring the reports and computer models. The models had shifted significantly since the forecast that she saw. She went on to tell me that Doug Hill said it would just be rain, and that he was always right. I told her that Doug Hill had changed his mind, as the storm shifted track. She said "No. I've lived here for 20 years. He didn't change his mind". I held up my phone and said "I am looking at his website right now. He. Changed. His. Mind."
She said, quite inexplicably while pointing at my phone, "Well, I wouldn't trust that thing."
This was clearly her last defense. At this point I also questioned why I was having a weather spat with a Giant clerk.
I have thought on this long and hard, and it boils down to this:
Some think I am a geek for obsessing over weather. Ok. Point taken. But I'll tell you what. I was prepared for what was coming because I paid attention to the forecasts. Just because you hear that Sunday is going to be nice on the news on Tuesday, does NOT mean that the forecast has not changed SINCE Tuesday. Weather is part of nature, and is constantly evolving and changing. And then the yammering begins, with people saying that this wasn't called for, and they didn't say this, blah,blah,blah.
Knowledge is power, folks. Arm yourself. It is but a click away on your computer.
And in my opinion, the MOST accurate place to find any weather information, as they were also the FIRST to call this storm accurately and in advance of everyone else is the Capital Weather Gang. Trust them before and above anyone else.
Not a sermon, just a thought.
Now I am going to go monitor the Tuesday/ Wednesday storm scenarios, as there is already a possibility of something headed our way then, most likely Wednesday. I will keep you posted.
xoxo
SGS
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