Feb
14
winter weather advisory
Filed under traffic, weather, government at 7:48 am
Starting last week, the National Weather Service began issuing winter weather advisories for our area, with storms expected to hit yesterday and today. The storms actually came this time, and I’m sufficiently impressed. Depending on the area, there are multiple inches of snow topped off by a thick layer of ice, with freezing rain and sleet still coming down. Having said that, I’m still amazed at the hysteria of many people here:
* A guy in the cube next to me parked his car over a mile away yesterday because there’s a hill on the street leading to our building. Apparently it froze during a storm several years ago and caused a traffic backup. Hearing the weather forecast, he wasn’t going to risk it this time around.
* The schools closed all day yesterday in anticipation of the storms, before it even started snowing or raining. The rain didn’t start until early evening.
* The traffic reports on the radio today are spending more time telling you how to drive than they are giving updates on the accidents. (E.g., “Speed is your enemy.” “Because the roads are covered in ice, you need to allow more time to brake.”)
Well, the status of the Federal Government is apparently the thing to watch around here. They let out early yesterday, and have a 2 hour delay today, except for “essential” employees, I believe. It’s still unclear as to how that impacts my work schedule, so I braved the elements and drove in to work this morning. Knowing the commute would be a bit longer than usual, I figured I’d stop off at Starbuck’s and get something dark, bold, and black to drink to make the trip more enjoyable. I pulled into the parking lot, and the store was completely dark. They were closed. They can close because of weather?! Surely, if anyone is considered “essential,” it should be Starbuck’s employees.
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2 Responses to “winter weather advisory”
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seriously, welcome to the East-coast/South - wimps
I’m still trying to figure out the reason(s) behind the behavior. I don’t think we’re all wimps here, as many people are transplants from other (colder) places, like myself. Some additional thoughts from this past week:
* Some people clearly aren’t used to winter weather. I’m not going to try too hard to get inside the mind of these folks.
* Schools here were canceled on Tuesday through Friday. Tuesday was in anticipation of the storm, and Wednesday was the storm itself. Thursday and Friday were sunny days with temps in the 30s. Apparently it was still too icy. Because they missed so many days, they held school on Monday, a federal holiday. Now there’s a reason for a parent to be mad.
At first I thought the problem might be a lack of plows and/or resources to deal with the snow. However, it hasn’t rained or snowed for almost a week, and there are still lanes that are blocked due to snow put there by plows. If we had gotten more than a couple inches of snow, or snow on multiple days in a row, I can see why things would be closed. Intersection corners and edges of streets simply don’t ever get plowed. And yes, I do believe I’m qualified to be dispensing plowing advice, based on many years of shoveling experience.