Snow Warnings vs. Crying Wolf

Everyone has different experiences with snow. Growing up in Utah, I became quite familiar with not only snow, but how it impacts day-to-day activities. It was rather simple: when it snowed, you stayed off the road as much as possible. If you did have to go out, you drove slowly and carefully.

I’ve lived in North Carolina for over six years now. Snow is rare. We may get a little about once a year. When we do, everything shuts down. If you’ve lived in a part of the world where snow is more common, this may seem strange—even to the point of over-reacting.

But consider the following: warmer areas, like North Carolina, simply don’t have the resources to handle the snow because it isn’t common. In addition, people who live where snow is rare aren’t experienced enough to know how to handle it. That’s not a criticism, that’s human nature.

I write this blog on the third day of school being closed. The forecast called for below freezing temperatures and up to four inches of snow to come in on Tuesday afternoon. Our local school district canceled school on Tuesday, even though the storm wasn’t supposed to come until the afternoon.

Some people (myself included) may scratch their heads and wonder why cancel so early for something that might happen later in the day. Here are two things I should have remembered from all my years of working in TV news:

First: weather is very unpredictable.

Second: weather can be dangerous.

Just a few years ago, a tornado touched down a few miles away from us. Here’s a picture of what it did to a sign in the area:

Now consider what happened in Atlanta during this recent storm. According to media reports, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm alert for Atlanta at 3:38 a.m. on Tuesday, 12 hours before the worst of the traffic set in.

It can be argued that officials didn’t take it as seriously as they could have. What happened? People were jammed on the roads for hours. School children were stuck in school buses, and some students even had to spend the night at schools. 

Photo courtesy of ABC News

Here, in North Carolina, they took the warning more seriously and we avoided many of the same issues Atlanta faced.

But I say there is room for improvement. I was, and am, openly critical of Wake County Public Schools for waiting until after 9 pm on Tuesday to announce that schools were going to be closed on Wednesday.

Why? Well, when the National Weather Service “cried wolf,” meaning a storm may be coming, the school district acted cautiously—and I agree with what they did. People’s safety should come first.

However, once the storm hit, meaning the wolf was actually at the door, the school district waited until their scheduled meeting time of 9 pm to make the decision.

When school is canceled, it often requires parents to adjust their plans to make sure their kids are taken care of.

Here’s a not so humble suggestion: when the wolf is at your door, don’t wait for a pre-scheduled time in the future to decide what to do about it. 

Where does the white go when the snow melts?

This picture was taken my by talented daughter Kelley. It's a shot of our backyard.

I've seen snow in various amounts at different locations in my life. Unlike the common saying that Eskimos have something like 5,627 different words for snow, I just have the one--and it's a four letter word.

Actually, that isn't fair. I have a love / hate relationship with snow. In Utah, there were days I would wake up, get ready for work or school, and then leave the house just to find my car buried under several feet of snow. Heck, I even kept a shovel in my trunk. In addition, I'd put big, heavy bags of rock salt in the trunk as well, not only to help weigh down the back of the rear-wheeled drive vehicle, but also to use as a melting agent if I got really stuck.

Even earlier in my life, we had a paper route. The Sunday edition was done first thing in the morning. On would go the heavy coat, mittens, two pairs of pants and those awesome moonboots we had back in the 80's. (Actually, I sort of miss my moonboots) I'd walk from house to house, trudging my way through snow, trying to keep the papers dry and myself warm.

Of course, this would be a good time to mention how I had to walk to school in the snow, uphill (both ways), wearing cardboard shoes, with wolves at my heels and only a "brick" of Shredded Wheat for breakfast--but it wouldn't be true. I didn't have cardboard shoes--I had my awesome moonboots.

In all my years of school in Utah, I only recall school being closed down early once. It was the day before Christmas break, and it had been snowing for several days. There was something like 5 feet of snow, and it was still coming down--hard. They let us walk home early from school that day--though it was uphill with wolves on our heels.

The most snow I've ever seen was a trip we took as scouts to Yellowstone. They said they had like 12 feet of snow or something like that. The only way to get around was on snowmobiles. That was pretty sweet.

And then came my time in Connecticut. This is where the hate part comes in. OK, maybe hate is too strong a word--how about: "an incredibly intense dislike" for snow. Why? Because working at a TV station meant never ending snow coverage. Forget any plans you had with your family--snow meant long hours at work, telling people over and over again: "It's snowing!"

Now that I've moved to North Carolina, snow is back to something of a wonder. Overnight, we got about 6 inches of snow. They say it is the first white Christmas time in the Raleigh area in 60 years. To put into perspective how much 6 inches of snow is for this part of the country, I came up with a formula: You take the number of inches of snow, multiply it by 5, and replace the word "inches" with "feet."

Finally, there is the questions of "where does the white go when the snow melts?" I've asked this question many times to many people. I've gotten all sorts of answers--some very scientific in nature. My favorite response by far was, "It goes into the ground and turns green."