How will CWG apologize for our 1st legit snowfall?

[JamieOber]

Time to drop the "somewhat" subjective on the daily digit. What at all is objective about it? It is 100% opinion.

 

The majority of the public doesn't like cold or snow. When I worked at AccuWx there used to be complaints about JB being enthused about snowstorms and hurricanes. I saw a market research report that confirmed that most people outside of around Christmas hate snow. People get in accidents, their kids' school being closed ****s up their schedule, it cancels plans, etc. Cold weather is uncomfortable to a lot of people, they can't do a lot of outside activities, it costs them money due to high heating bills, etc. 

 

Hell, that's true for any kind of weather. The majority want sunny and warm unless there's something like a drought going on. Having worked in the world of communicating weather to the public, trust me, that's what the public wants to hear. We are viewed as unusual at best. 

 

I hear what you are saying, I am with you, but we are in the minority. So the question you have to ask about Capital Weather Gang is what do you guys want it to be? A niche blog that focuses on the relatively small group that enjoys snow/cold and are looking for more info on whether that will happen or a general public information blog aimed at the snow-hating masses? You all go into way more detail than the average person wants to know, so I could see it being a niche blog. 

[Ji]

Camden suggesting we might want to wear long underwear. I'm serious.

 

is he a met//paid washington post employee? or just volunteer?

[Ian]

Good suggestion. I sported a long underwear shirt. Screw the cold.

[ORH_wxman]

They should write an article on 1/19/94.

[mattie g]

I wear long underwear if I'm going to be out in 30-degree weather for a while.

[Deck Pic]

The majority of the public doesn't like cold or snow. When I worked at AccuWx there used to be complaints about JB being enthused about snowstorms and hurricanes. I saw a market research report that confirmed that most people outside of around Christmas hate snow. People get in accidents, their kids' school being closed ****s up their schedule, it cancels plans, etc. Cold weather is uncomfortable to a lot of people, they can't do a lot of outside activities, it costs them money due to high heating bills, etc. 

 

Hell, that's true for any kind of weather. The majority want sunny and warm unless there's something like a drought going on. Having worked in the world of communicating weather to the public, trust me, that's what the public wants to hear. We are viewed as unusual at best. 

 

I hear what you are saying, I am with you, but we are in the minority. So the question you have to ask about Capital Weather Gang is what do you guys want it to be? A niche blog that focuses on the relatively small group that enjoys snow/cold and are looking for more info on whether that will happen or a general public information blog aimed at the snow-hating masses? You all go into way more detail than the average person wants to know, so I could see it being a niche blog. 

 

It can't be a niche blog since it is part of the post and has to drive readership...I get that....but it also is unique in that it has a following of weather enthusiasts whose interest and knowledge re weather is somewhat to significantly greater than the general public...CWG is a unique weather entity...There is no other DC entity with the same audience or following and it also has a national profile...There seems to me to be a dichotomy in the winter between the forecasting/blogging leg which is more sophisticated and unsurpassed in quality and accuracy (It blows away any competition) and the social media leg which has a marked warm bias and seizes on the pussification of the DC public which has been perpetuated and pandered to for years by DC media....Jason has made the distinction before between the blog and the social media arm...noting the latter caters to a different audience but both have the CWG label...both represent the CWG name....and CWG has made a noticeable effort to promote their social media and make sure people subscribe to their feed.....I think they underestimate their social media audience and if they want more high brow participation on twitter/facebook they aren't doing a good job....Camden suggesting we might want to wear long underwear is not going to encourage anyone to talk about climo or the pattern....

 

DT has 10k more followers than CWG and he is one person with inferior content in a smaller market, but he panders to snow lovers....JB2 has been around as a private met for just a short time and he has 3k more followers than CWG catering to a smaller market as well...And he panders to snow lovers too,...The idea that social media strategy demands a warm bias is not true....

[Deck Pic]

Good suggestion. I sported a long underwear shirt. Screw the cold.

 

curious...when you lived at elevation in NW CT and then in Storrs, did you complain about the cold or the inconvenience of the snow to your friends, neighbors, family, dorm mates?....

[Deck Pic]

They should write an article on 1/19/94.

 

Depends who writes it...undoubtedly the body of the article or the links will talk about how much that must have sucked and how lucky we are to have +20 departures these days

[Ian]

They should write an article on 1/19/94.

 

thank god those types of days are in the past.

[Ian]

curious...when you lived at elevation in NW CT and then in Storrs, did you complain about the cold or the inconvenience of the snow to your friends, neighbors, family, dorm mates?....

 

not really tho i've never been a huge fan of cold. i grew up in the desert of CA and N TX. i actually think i try to be as unsubjective as possible with most of my commentary there... tho i probably have a warm bias to my tone.

[Deck Pic]

not really tho i've never been a huge fan of cold. i grew up in the desert of CA and N TX. i actually think i try to be as unsubjective as possible with most of my commentary there... tho i probably have a warm bias to my tone.

 

you do a good job of being mostly neutral like you were in your 2" article....Though occasionally I do disagree with your "SOMEWHAT" subjective daily digit

[JamieOber]

It can't be a niche blog since it is part of the post and has to drive readership...I get that....but it also is unique in that it has a following of weather enthusiasts whose interest and knowledge re weather is somewhat to significantly greater than the general public...CWG is a unique weather entity...There is no other DC entity with the same audience or following and it also has a national profile...There seems to me to be a dichotomy in the winter between the forecasting/blogging leg which is more sophisticated and unsurpassed in quality and accuracy (It blows away any competition) and the social media leg which has a marked warm bias and seizes on the pussification of the DC public which has been perpetuated and pandered to for years by DC media....Jason has made the distinction before between the blog and the social media arm...noting the latter caters to a different audience but both have the CWG label...both represent the CWG name....and CWG has made a noticeable effort to promote their social media and make sure people subscribe to their feed.....I think they underestimate their social media audience and if they want more high brow participation on twitter/facebook they aren't doing a good job....Camden suggesting we might want to wear long underwear is not going to encourage anyone to talk about climo or the pattern....

 

DT has 10k more followers than CWG and he is one person with inferior content in a smaller market, but he panders to snow lovers....JB2 has been around as a private met for just a short time and he has 3k more followers than CWG catering to a smaller market as well...And he panders to snow lovers too,...The idea that social media strategy demands a warm bias is not true....

 

The way that it's written makes it pretty clear that the social media branch and the blog itself are an example of a brand that has a split personality. That happens with new media fairly often. The social media stuff, and I follow CWG on Twitter, seems to me to have more general, small bits of information about DC weather. The blog goes into a lot of details. The majority of the public really doesn't care about the MJO, the NAO, etc., they just want to know how the weather will affect them personally. As for high-brow participation, there's no rule saying that snow hating is low-brow. 

 

JB and DT are controversial figures who have been showcased in media before - when DT attacked local TV mets a while back to made the local news. JB has been on FOXNews spouting off about global warming, etc. JB has a political following, believe it or not. Not everyone who follows them are snow lovers, based on the comments. Capital Weather Gang tends to avoid controversy. Unfortunately, that's not going to sell as much. 

 

Besides, I'd have to look at their FB analytics to see how many of those followers interact with DT/JB or are just people who liked them because they saw them in the news and then forgot about them. That's the trick with FB friends for any kind of serious analysis, and why the weekly report a business page admin like myself receives outlines stuff such as new likes, "talking about this" numbers and weekly total reach. One of the things people like myself want to know is what percentage of the people who like or follow them are active engagers, and that's the holy grail of social media numbers. There's a whole industry built around that. 

 

I just noted that Ian threw the snowlovers a bone in his last paragraph today, so there's that. I should make it clear that the "OMG it's going to snow it sucks" in the media annoys me as well but I totally get why they do it. However, I think that CWG could be more "pro-snow" given the audience you outlined. 

[JamieOber]

One more thing, it can be somewhat of a niche blog and be part of the Post, IMO. A lot of media outlets have stuff like ski blogs, etc. 

[Deck Pic]

The way that it's written makes it pretty clear that the social media branch and the blog itself are an example of a brand that has a split personality. That happens with new media fairly often. The social media stuff, and I follow CWG on Twitter, seems to me to have more general, small bits of information about DC weather. The blog goes into a lot of details. The majority of the public really doesn't care about the MJO, the NAO, etc., they just want to know how the weather will affect them personally. As for high-brow participation, there's no rule saying that snow hating is low-brow. 

 

JB and DT are controversial figures who have been showcased in media before - when DT attacked local TV mets a while back to made the local news. JB has been on FOXNews spouting off about global warming, etc. JB has a political following, believe it or not. Not everyone who follows them are snow lovers, based on the comments. Capital Weather Gang tends to avoid controversy. Unfortunately, that's not going to sell as much. 

 

Besides, I'd have to look at their FB analytics to see how many of those followers interact with DT/JB or are just people who liked them because they saw them in the news and then forgot about them. That's the trick with FB friends for any kind of serious analysis, and why the weekly report a business page admin like myself receives outlines stuff such as new likes, "talking about this" numbers and weekly total reach. One of the things people like myself want to know is what percentage of the people who like or follow them are active engagers, and that's the holy grail of social media numbers. There's a whole industry built around that. 

 

I just noted that Ian threw the snowlovers a bone in his last paragraph today, so there's that. I should make it clear that the "OMG it's going to snow it sucks" in the media annoys me as well but I totally get why they do it. However, I think that CWG could be more "pro-snow" given the audience you outlined. 

 

good points...I should have made it clear that I was talking about JUstin Berk and his 24k sycophants

[JamieOber]

good points...I should have made it clear that I was talking about JUstin Berk and his 24k sycophants

 

You know, the more I think about this, the more I think it would make for an excellent blog post by you, Matt. Talk about snow perceptions, how some view it as a nuisance, some view it as a cool thing, how some people make a living off it, and how it's portrayed in the media. 

[brad1551]

I really don't care and predicting the weather can be very difficult as is. DMV is one of the hardest places in my book for forecasting snow in general. I forecast the Ohio valley, Northeast & Mid-Atlantic areas and that is tough at times. I don't think that CWG ever said anything about it not snowing but they were not as optimistic as others. CWG in my book are a very replicable and a strong bunch of meteorologist. I have read countless articles from CWG in the past and learned a lot from them. Nobody's perfect and I don't think they failed either at all. My hat goes off to CWG and always!!!

[Fozz]

Apparently a 25 degree high is "truly frigid!!!11!!!"