Some Bragging on National Weatherperson's Day

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Here are the actual snowfall amounts for the Central U.S. from the latest storm:



And, here is the forecast. Note the high correlations, including the area in eastern Colorado. This forecast was made more than 24-hours before the snow began falling.

Farther east...
Phily.com
More than 600,000 homes and businesses in southeast and east Pennsylvania and adjacent areas are still without power after the this same storm produced ice in their region. This blog ran multiple cautions about the ice potential including this:
Please also consider that meteorologists nailed the situation in Atlanta last week.

This is not about me personally: It is about the thousands of meteorologists who do remarkable work week in and week out. Think what would happen if cities couldn't count on an accurate weather forecast. You'd have an "Atlanta" several times each winter.

"Surprise storms" are increasingly a thing of the past, all thanks to weather science.

Comments

  1. PointSpecialFebruary 6, 2014 at 10:16 AM

    I should have listened to Accuweather...

    The part of the storm that hit the Chicago area Tuesday night socked us with more than the local meteorologists were stating.

    Initially, it was 4-6 across much of the area... but, especially north (Lake County, adjacent to Wisconsin and Lake Michigan) it was downgraded to 1-3.

    Instead, we got socked with 5-6 inches, with plenty of blowing/drifting, and it all happened in the overnight hours (we had maybe a 1/2 inch at about 10 PM).

    I was one of several workers in my office who was shocked with the volume of snow when I looked outside, thinking it would take 15 minutes to shovel the inch or two... instead, it took 90 minutes, shoveling up to 18-24 inches in drifted spots and by the road where I got plowed in.

    I think that the Chicago forecasters were thinking this storm would do what the previous storm did and just skirt us to the south... but this one included a decent amount of lake enhancement that ensured a full half foot over the whole area.

    Such is life I suppose!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike SmithFebruary 6, 2014 at 10:31 AM

    AccuWeather is a great company that does extraordinary work. Thank you for telling this story.

    ReplyDelete

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