Once Again.

[Motor City Sonics]

The predictions of doom and gloom weather were WAY, WAY off.

The expected 8-10 inches here in Dearborn wound up being about 1.5 inches.


And in order to justify their bumbling of the weather again, this mornings television news continuted to overblow the situation.

The only other people paid so much to be so wrong work for the Detroit Lions.


The National Weather Service has botched a few this year. Can we trust them in the spring and summer when the thunderstorms and tornadoes are out there trying to kill us?

[DennisDubay]

I usually do the opposite of what the weatherman predict. If they say sunny, i get the rain gear out. If they say gloomy and doomy, I throw a party.

[rhino]

Milford got the expected 6 to 8 inches. Maybe you were just lucky in Dearborn?

[CMRivdog]

It felt like 8-12 inches here in Farmington Hills, MCS you are welcome to come shovel my driveway if you want :>

[Team Mom]

I can feel rain but that's it. Gloomy looking way to start the New Year.

[PuNk42AE]

It's a tad overcast here, think it's supposed to be 50 or so today.

[EmilyOTR]

We only got about 4 or so inches in Ferndale, but I was supposed to run a 5K in Lake Orion this morning and I have a feeling they got about 12 inches.

[Yoda]

The National Weather Service has botched a few this year. Can we trust them in the spring and summer when the thunderstorms and tornadoes are out there trying to kill us?So what? They're just there to warn you. If the conditions are there for that type of weather, they need to tell you. If you don't want them to, why listen to them? Predicting weather isn't an exact science.

[ben9753]

I have always expect half of what they predict, and I'm usually dead on. They were predicting 8-10 so I expected 4-5 inches which is exactly what we got.

[ToledoTigerFan]

We were supposed to get around 6 inches, but I don't think we made it to .6 inches. Not that the result displeases me. No snow to blow is fine by me.

[chasfh]

Milford got the expected 6 to 8 inches.

http://www.markaelrod.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/milhouse.gif

[sloan]

so they were off on what your city would get.. we sure got our 10+ here like they predicted. you should drive out toward novi if you want to see all that snow they predicted, cuz it definitely came this time (just not in your city.. i'll trade ya?)

[Oblong]

my grass didn't even get covered. It was a sloshy mess to shovel.

YOu'd have thought it was 9/11 all over again on the newscast lastnight at 11 and this morning.. They had reporters in every part of the city and they just kept going back and forth to each other. "What's it like there? Well, it's not snowing yet" "What's it like over there?" "Well it's snowing a little bit".

I chalk it up to the backups being on duty at the news and these are easy stories to cover. NObody wants to work new year's eve or new year's day so they can just talk about the weather.

[djhutch]

Up here in Midland they were calling for 2-4 last night, & another 1-3 today. We got maybe 1 inch total. I didn't even take my snow blower out of the shed. But it is flurrying now.

[Motor City Sonics]

Okay, okay, so y'all in the northern suburbs got hit hard. It's Michigan, it happens, they overdo it. Glad I didn't have too much to shovel.

I think a Drew and Mike listener came up with the formula of taking the lowest estimate and cutting it in half and that's what you'll get - and wow is that pretty accurate.

They say 6-10, expect 3

[shabba4detroit]

I think that part of the reason that they may have overdid it was that it was New Years Eve -- a veritable Amateur Night for driving in the wee hours, as well as for drinking and driving. I would like to think that the hype would have been toned down if this were an ordinary Tuesday morning.

[sloan]

man i wish we didnt get 10".. so much snow everywhere.. so much shoveling :(

[Team Mom]

Man I am happy to say that it is supposed to get to 35 here tonight and 29 by Thursday morning. Glad Huey bought me a fake fur coat last winter. I can finally park my car in the garage so it won't take too long to heat it up for work in the morming. hey this is why we live in Florida. No snow to plow thru.

[SpartanValor]

We only got about 4 or so inches in Ferndale, but I was supposed to run a 5K in Lake Orion this morning and I have a feeling they got about 12 inches.

I'm in Lake Orion, and we had about 12 inches overnight...then a couple more during the day. Can't blame the weathermen for this one, unfortunately.

Funny though, how its going to be near 50 degrees by the weekend. Where exactly, is 15 inches of snow going to go (plus rain)? Might get kinda ugly.

[djhutch]

We got more last night than the night before. I'm finishing up a couple of things @ work (obviously not right now) & heading home to fire up the snowblower.

[clark1mt]

The trouble with forecasting snow accumulation is that small differences is liquid amounts create a large difference in snow amounts. The usual ratio is 1 inch of rain = 10 inches of snow.
Not only that, but that ratio is far from exact. Snow:rain ratios can range anywhere from 2:1 to 20:1.

So, if a relatively small area (like a city or county) gets an intense convective snowstorm, it will drastically increase the amount of snow. You probably wouldn't even notice the difference if it had been rain.

Also, the track of the low pressure system has a huge effect on the amount and location of snow. The rain-snow line for the New Years storm was further north than expected, and as little as 1-2 degrees makes a huge difference.

And finally, they knew a lot of snow would fall. It was just a question of where. So they went with worst case for everywhere. Think how pissed off you'd be if you were only expecting one or two inches of snow and woke up to a foot!

[Oblong]

I just don't get why it's big news. It's January and Michigan. Expect snow. All they have to do is say "A big storm's coming through. You might get 3 inches, you might get 12 inches." In fact they shoudln't even have to give amounts. It should just be understood that living here from December though April can lead to snow. And in Jan/Feb it can get extremely cold.

How did our parents and grandparents ever survive without all this media?

[wanker]

I think it snowed here from about 630 new years eve til after I went to bed last night.

[Biff Mayhem]

We only got about 4 or so inches in Ferndale,


*Obligatory sophomoric snicker*

[hueytaxi]

Yes, that is an official possibility tonight in Central Florida as the storm finally invades the Citrus Belt. Wind chill in single digits is expected just north of Tampa. Lakeland is expecting an overnight low of 23 degrees with a brisk wind. Skies are cloudless with high pressure to allow any daytime heat to excape quickly as the sun sets. Citrus freezes when temps fall below 27 for four hours. Once frozen it must be juiced quickly or it will fall from the tree and rot. Strawberries have a similar fate, except no one processes strawberry juice in quantity. The berry growers will be using water to try and keep an ice cover on the plants to keep them alive. OJ prices will rise quickly.

[Boilerfan]

Second time in a month that we have gotten more than 10 inches of snow. Neither involved much lake effect snow either. That is pretty unusual for us.

[EmilyOTR]

*Obligatory sophomoric snicker*

;P

[Tigeraholic1]

I was loving it yesterday, since it was a holiday plowing pays $65.00 an hour on a normal day but time and 1/2 pushed me to $92.50/hr! Sixteen hours later puts me in front of my fireplace sipping Crown and coke.... Life is good in the midwest.

[wingedwheel]

I was loving it yesterday, since it was a holiday plowing pays $65.00 an hour on a normal day but time and 1/2 pushed me to $92.50/hr! Sixteen hours later puts me in front of my fireplace sipping Crown and coke.... Life is good in the midwest.

http://thesimpsons.com/bios/images/bios_guests_west.gif:grin:

[djhutch]

http://thesimpsons.com/bios/images/bios_guests_west.gif:grin:

Call Mr. Plow
That's my name
That name again
Is Mr. Plow

[Oblong]

I would love to drive one of the wayne county or city snow plows or salt trucks. Looks like a fun job. I'm sure you have to know someone though.