The Weather Thread

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Yup, each time this happens the media and weather services lose credibility with people. And I hate it, because they are put in a lose-lose situation. They are trying to predict the future, and if they are wrong then people will get mad at them. At the end of the day they think it is best to over-warn than to underprepare people. The problem is when people start to ignore the warnings because they've heard them time and time again and nothing has happened.
It's the Storm Prediction Center with NOAA that issues the threat levels and all the watches. There were red flags yesterday that a level 4 out of 5 threat was to high. But the local meteorologists have to go with what they say.
 
It's the Storm Prediction Center with NOAA that issues the threat levels and all the watches. There were red flags yesterday that a level 4 out of 5 threat was to high. But the local meteorologists have to go with what they say.
Yup, and the SPC was going off of the information that they had at the time which painted a pretty dire picture. But that stuff can change, just like it did today. It would be like having to place a million dollar bet on the UNC/Duke game four days before tip off. You place a bet based on information that Caleb Wilson is more than likely going to play, and then after the bet is locked in the news comes out that he broke his thumb and is out for the season. It sucks, but that's the way it works.

That said, they absolutely should not have closed schools today IMO. Even if the worst-case scenario had occurred and we had 79 F-5 tornados bulldozing the entire state, it is much safer for kids to be in a school than it is for them to be at home.
 
Yup, and the SPC was going off of the information that they had at the time which painted a pretty dire picture. But that stuff can change, just like it did today. It would be like having to place a million dollar bet on the UNC/Duke game four days before tip off. You place a bet based on information that Caleb Wilson is more than likely going to play, and then after the bet is locked in the news comes out that he broke his thumb and is out for the season. It sucks, but that's the way it works.

That said, they absolutely should not have closed schools today IMO. Even if the worst-case scenario had occurred and we had 79 F-5 tornados bulldozing the entire state, it is much safer for kids to be in a school than it is for them to be at home.
They weren't closed because they might be at school if there was bad weather. They close them because they don't want buses out during severe weather.

There were signs yesterday that a level 3 threat would have been enough. I think the SPC should have kept it at level 3 and then increased to level 4 today if needed.
 
Just looked at the radar again and looks like we'll dodge it for a while longer. Works for me. My garden and I don't really need 70 mph winds. At least nothing is tall enough yet to be hurt much.
 
Yup, each time this happens the media and weather services lose credibility with people. And I hate it, because they are put in a lose-lose situation. They are trying to predict the future, and if they are wrong then people will get mad at them. At the end of the day they think it is best to over-warn than to underprepare people. The problem is when people start to ignore the warnings because they've heard them time and time again and nothing has happened.
WXII in Winston was having a field day this morning with multiple weathermen arguing over the radar returns and breathlessly telling people to "go to your safe place" as rotation had been spotted on the weather radar in Forsyth County. My sister's family was right in the path of the supposed tornado and they texted that it poured rain for about 10 minutes but there was almost no wind and it had already stopped and the sun was trying to come out. A big nothingburger, but the WXII guys stayed at it for the rest of the morning. I get why they have to give the warnings and certainly the next warning could be real, but I do think they lose credibility with these melodramatic pronouncements - they should have a Star Trek type "RED ALERT!" sign going with a klaxon.
 
Yeah, I am glad it was a bust when it comes to severe weather. But I also think they could be better in predicting the showers and clouds sticking around and making it less of an issue.
I would not want to be the person calling the shot on school closures. This, though, really is getting ridiculous. We put our public schools in a horrible position in March 2020. Our kids are paying the price for that now. But it seems to me the new norm has become that we prioritize liability limitation over educational time. That's doing nobody any favors.
 
I would not want to be the person calling the shot on school closures. This, though, really is getting ridiculous. We put our public schools in a horrible position in March 2020. Our kids are paying the price for that now. But it seems to me the new norm has become that we prioritize liability limitation over educational time. That's doing nobody any favors.
They can only go on what the forecast says. The potential for tornadoes in the forecast was high, and some of them being strong. It's not their fault if the forecast is wrong. I don't want kids on busses if there is a tornado around.
 
I would not want to be the person calling the shot on school closures. This, though, really is getting ridiculous. We put our public schools in a horrible position in March 2020. Our kids are paying the price for that now. But it seems to me the new norm has become that we prioritize liability limitation over educational time. That's doing nobody any favors.
People threaten to sue schools at a ridiculous clip these days
 
Had tornado warnings almost all night here in South Central Kentucky. Got lucky and had the worst parts of the storms with 60-70 mph straight line winds just miss me. Still have about 2,500 people to the north of me without power.

Went from a high of 75 yesterday to 32 right now with snow flurries and some sleet.
 
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