'They' have been calling for a terrible storm to hit all weekend. It was predicted to start at 1PM today. Before it was all said and done, it was expected to last for 36 hours. For all of that, the amounts of snow expected were pretty small...2 to 4 inches...up to 6 inches in isolated areas of the county.
That was a bit confusing, because that's not a lot of snow, not really.
But just to be on the safe side, there was a bunch of stuff that I'd run out of in the great cookie baking. I was also out of a lot of incidentals and we really needed to pick up another half gallon of milk. So we decided to duck out and get that shopping done,
We were back home by 11 and got everything put away.
It was pretty gray outside, but no snow.
After lunch, we watched the sky.
The storm was pushed back to 3.
It is now 5 PM. No storm. When I checked the weather information, they have stopped predicting when the storm will hit, but are stating that it will be over tomorrow by 10:30. Now they've backed that up, saying the storm will end between 5 and 6AM.
So our 36 hour storm with 35 mph winds has been reduced to less than 12 hours, with 11 mph wind gusts.
I'm not sorry about this at all. I've got a hair appointment at 11 tomorrow, and I'm just as happy to take a miss on a winter storm, but I don't see why there is so much emphasis on getting these forecasts out so early. Seriously, this storm has been talked about all weekend. Wouldn't it make more sense to say something like 'It looks like a possibility of bad weather coming. We will continue to watch this front and we will update this regularly as we are better able to predict its path..' I don't understand the need to catastrophize the weather, but it seems to be happening more and more in my area.
What about you folks?
Mask mandates for health care facilities are once again being instituted across the state. My daughter-in-law sees a spike in RSV on her side of the state, and I'm hearing reports of covid here there and everywhere. Tis the season.
I agree with your idea about the forecasting. You never can rely on weather predictability lol... we watch the radar maps... As for Covid.. my teacher daughter with all the boosters picked up a case from her elementary school. Lots of sick kids, teachers and staff. She went back to teaching ( gifted program) asap but wore a mask.
ReplyDeleteThe vaccine does not prevent covid...it minimizes the effects of it. They are predicting a spike in the schools after the kids come back from Christmas break. Hopefully the "they" predicting this are the same "they" that predict the weather. Although it is now snowing here.
DeleteSometimes the weather doesn't do what they say it will do. Weather changes it's mind. However, it's better when the weather is not a severe as predicted and not very nice when weather is worse than predicted.
ReplyDeleteWe absolutely need to to know if a storm is possible. They can hold off on details until they know for sure.
DeleteMost of my family just tested positive for Covid, not looking good here for Christmas in southern Australia!
ReplyDeleteEeeeeee-yikes... So far it has not infiltrated the family here. Tim and I are boosted, given the fact that we knew we would be spending a lot of time in health care settings. There are a lot of sick people in places like that.
DeleteYou may have had some storm after all. We had about an inch of snow, hours after it was forecast to fall.
ReplyDeleteWe got about 3 inches.
DeleteI've been watching the storm from afar and not looking closely at that map. It has seemed to alternate between snow and rain for your area of PA. I'm glad that you are missing the brunt so far.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't got much in the way of rain. We watch the maps as well.
DeleteMy concern when they issue warnings like this is that people become blase and when a catastrophic event is imminent warnings are ignored.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is already happening!
DeleteWe're boosted into infinity, but we know that certainly does not guarantee a full protection against Covid. So whattagonnado? Meanwhile, weather predictors are totally out of control as in... "the sky is falling!" mentality. However, and in the meantime, they actually got it right for over here in central NH. By 3 pm today we had received over 3 inches of rain, and it actually hit 60 degrees by noontime. So very weird.
ReplyDeleteThere is no 'full protection'. We are not there yet and this is a mutating virus. The vaccine is designed to trigger a cellular response that minimizes the infection. I agree with you. We watch the weather maps and consider ourselves sensible in responding to weather events. Keeping an eye on the sky is quite different from running around squawking that the sky is falling two days before the event.
DeleteThe weatherman is the only guy who can be wrong and still keep his job! Covid is spiking up (10,000 admissions to hospitals in the U.S. last week,) and RSV is worsening. It's a combination of people not getting the latest jab and diminishing immunity from all of the past versions and shots. The oldish folks should have the most recent shot and the new RSV shot to stay out of the hospitals. Wearing a mask where there are crowds (drug stores, grocery stores, even church with singing,) is a good thing to do. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteSensible advice as always. Yet there are those who will debate it to the day they die.
DeleteI tested positive for Covid last Friday and tonight my husband started running a fever. Hohoho.
ReplyDeleteOh Jennifer. I was awfully concerned about the scenario, given Gregg's history.
DeleteJennifer, I hope you and Gregg can get the anti-viral med. It really helped me recover from Covid.
DeleteMasks being reinstated is interesting. Most of our medical services have dropped them but quite a few patients and staff still wear them. Our weather bureau has been way off the mark for about three weeks. Anyway, can't neglect your hair, so I hope that goes well.
ReplyDeleteSounds very shallow, doesn't it? *hangs head*
DeleteThere's far too much prediction everywhere along with analysis in every walk of life. It's wise to be prepared but to live in a constant state of anxiety that 'things', whatever they may be, will be terrible is not a healthy way to live.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that. I also think there is a danger to it. After a while, people just stop paying attention.
DeleteSadly they got the weather forecast correct here in S. England.....it is raining ....and looking at the radar it will be for hours yet! Wet dog walk to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteCovid is alive and well here too. I had it a couple of months ago for the first time, but it was just like a cold. 2 pals have it at the moment.
I always feel as if I should knock on wood. Never had it here. Lightning struck all around us, but Tim and I never caught it.
DeleteI look at the forecast percentage likelihoods and the radar...just a small change in wind speed or direction can change a lot!
ReplyDeleteYes..Covid has never gone away...and the RSVs are spiking...not just because of the season, but where covid has left a weakness in the system. Ho ho ho as they say.
Masking is a good idea when the air is cold anyway! I am surprised that people wh are carrying an infection don't always mask...as if the responsibility is totally on those who might pick up something, not on both sides!
It is just such a season of gatherings, which greatly increases the chance of spread.
DeleteI feel like the weather predictors are just another group trying to force us into buying stuff, you know, just in case. I use weather.com and good Lord their page reads like a supermarket rag, with overblown headlines and taglines. Sigh. I just got over RSV myself, 2 weeks with it. I didn't suffer like I did when I had Covid, but it sure kicked my butt. I wore a mask when I went to the store for groceries, my conscience wouldn't allow me not to.
ReplyDeleteI feel like everything is a grab for ratings. The more dramatic the headlines, the more that people click on it. The motivation is just wrong.
DeleteWell the weather predictions are all going to be right - eventually. Covid predictions have also been on the up and nobody seems to listen. It's all around here now too.
ReplyDeleteYet they will freak out over the weather...
DeleteI keep forgetting to mask for grocery and pharmacy visits. Glad you mentioned that the booster doesn't keep you from getting COVID but may make it a lighter case. I didn't know that. Weather apps that give facts (show the radar of this time, and then possibilities) and the percent chances of something happening - give me a sense I know as much as whoever mouths the predictions. I can see this front coming my way, and how much of it may hit me. The weather people talk to a general audience, much broader than my own site. Timing is kind of strange...still. And then there's the fast talking crisis-imminent tones of most news casts. I have to turn them off.
ReplyDeleteWe are huge radar map people. We can watch the weather approaching in real time. I feel that you get a better sense of what is going to happen by watching events as they unfold.
DeleteIt was probably from a different system, but we had some snow overnight. It isn't all bad to have some snow-cover at this time of year.
ReplyDeleteI have begun to mask-up in stores recently. There aren't many of us doing it yet, but I don't mind terribly.
We got about 3 inches. It is to be expected this time of the year.
DeleteGlad the predicted storm didn't really wade in as predicted. We have storms here really "talked up", in fact weather generally. So many things are deemed "a threat to life" . . . If we believed every word we would live in fear of our lives half the time!
ReplyDeleteThis was really hyped. It just gets old hearing everything turned into a catastrophic event.
DeleteReminds me of our hurricane weather forecasting. People go insane, watching those early forecasts and there are about fifty thousand factors that go into where a hurricane will head, much less land. And they can turn on a dime. There's one forecaster here that I trust and he is always very calming.
ReplyDeleteExactly. There is a huge difference between responsible reporting reporting of a possible weather event and reporting it as an ominous high risk event.
DeleteWe were predicted to have only rain, instead got some pretty impressive wind and flurries. But yeah, who wants a major storm? Not me!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind that it skipped us!
DeleteAt least you got some shopping out of the way so no harm done.
ReplyDeleteNo harm done. It is just such a strange hyped drama time to live in.
DeleteI live in an area that is affected by hurricanes regularly…I.e. Katrina and Camille. Many less significant storms. But the hype is beyond appropriate for many. A few years ago, there was a news crew reporting in our neighborhood as we were located within a block of the Gulf of Mexico. It turned out to be a flop of a hurricane (thank goodness). But, they had their crews on site and had to make the most of it. They struggled to find a fallen limb to stand by to make their report. I heard with my own ears an exchange over a scanner where the news director was instructing the crew for the next live shot. He said, “this is going out for broadcast in the Midwest and they won’t know the difference. Hype it up.”
ReplyDeleteI feel like things like this contribute to people taking a lackadaisical attitude to storms because we recognize the over hype. Then things like Katrina have a devastating effect because people don’t heed the warnings.
So what you experienced is apparently common.
I am just so tired of the hype. It just seems as if nothing is served up without a heaping helping of hype.
DeleteJethro Tull album?
ReplyDeleteThe Storm Watch album, which is a cool cover. If you are in the mood, you can click on it and listen to it!
DeleteCovid is making the rounds here too. I agree about the weather, but then, the severe weather warnings we get here are often accurate for other parts of England. London has some of the mildest weather in the country.
ReplyDeleteThey are predicting a real crunch after the holidays.
DeleteThey always catastrophize here about weather, especially snow and wind. With all our trees and our inexperience at snow driving (and hills!), I don't blame them although it's become a running joke. Snowmaggedon! Snowpocolypse! I do think it's more now of a CYA. RSV and Covid are definitely on the rise--ugh. Just in time for the holidays. :(
ReplyDeleteFa la la la la...
DeleteCovid never went away here, but I got boosted again when I got my flu shot, so I figure I've done what I can. I can always mask up again in crowded indoor venues, but don't really know how effective that is.
ReplyDeleteThe poor old weather forecasters are damned if they do and damned if they don't. I don't think anyone can forecast accurately more than 36 hours in advance, yet people WANT TO KNOW what's going to happen. (whether they choose to heed that warning or not)
I think the expectation of this has been placed by the media itself.
DeleteWe lived in Wake Forest NC for a while and I remember the News14Carolina talking heads getting positively giddy when the slightest chance of a tornado was forecast. I do miss a good meteorologist explaining WHY the weather was happening instead of just giving the forecast. That doesn't happen all that much anymore....
ReplyDeleteI guess that has gone out of fashion.
DeleteWe had a forecast of heavy rain, and we got almost 4”!- but the very strong winds never appeared… We’ll definitely have a green/brown Christmas here in the mid-Hudson valley. Hope your new haircut is good! - Ricki
ReplyDeleteNo white Christmas for us. We will be in thec40s this weekend.
ReplyDeleteThey did say there would be a COVID/flu spike during the winter months. I don't know what it's like in Hawaii. I do wear masks when we go shopping though and so do my friends. However, there are far fewer people wearing masks when we go out. It's the rainy season here and sure enough. It's raining.
ReplyDelete