Ian Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 Radars for 2008 and 2012. 2008 covers the entire set of storms from the 3rd thru early on the 5th. the main event there was the bow crossing DC. I did not include the a.m. convection this yr as there was a giant gap of nothing in between that would be boring to sit through. 2008 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 the article could perhaps come from a better angle but again it's hard to totally disagree with the premise here. 6 hours of warning is not enough.. especially with all this push to be a "weather ready nation" the dumb masses are going to have to learn probability and stuff even if we have to shove it down their throats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltysenior Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 friday afternoons , in the summer , are a poor choice to expect top efficiency from gov. agencies...especially in the D.C.area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikolai Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 friday afternoons , in the summer , are a poor choice to expect top efficiency from gov. agencies...especially in the D.C.area Keep your senile ignorant drivel out of the DC threads thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacindc Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Just to add... I looked in here mid-afternoon, saw the discussion about how it was going to go south, and went about my business. I went out after work, to dinner, and then was shocked to start seeing freakouts on Twitter and elsewhere around 8pm. Came back here to find 10 new pages since my last visit, so knew something was up. Otherwise, it was hot and humid, so a watch or warning wouldn't have really gotten my attention (figuring "normal" summer storms) without a look at the radar to see what was looming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmlwx Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 the article could perhaps come from a better angle but again it's hard to totally disagree with the premise here. 6 hours of warning is not enough.. especially with all this push to be a "weather ready nation" the dumb masses are going to have to learn probability and stuff even if we have to shove it down their throats 6 hours of warning is decent (I think) on an unpredictable derecho. But I see what you are saying - SPC was making some pretty radical shifts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 somehow it would appear my camera survived. i need to do a few more tests but it took pics and they look fine. now i guess i can be a little less cautious with rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deck Pic Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Warnings were completely inadequate to stave off people from going about their normal business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhotoGuy Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 "No one will have his boot further up Pepco's and BGE's backsides than I will," O'Malley said Sunday afternoon, referring to the two main utilities serving Maryland. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48035754 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeRedheads Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 thats one helluva pick up line From VA emergency management Latest outages from Dominion Power: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nw baltimore wx Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Warnings were completely inadequate to stave off people from going about their normal business. After working the O's game Friday night, I caught a glimpse of the radar on a co-workers phone. That was enough for me to rush to the car and race home, yet the Orioles decided to still have their monthly post-game fireworks display. I heard later that a lot of the fans that night were stuck inside the stadium during the event. I wonder if the O's discussed the decision to not tell anyone the storms were approaching as it might have been worse to send frantic fans out on the roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltysenior Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Keep your senile ignorant drivel out of the DC threads thanks! nice kid... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
North Balti Zen Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Power back as of 6:30 pm. Yay! As for Os game discussion above...I thought they should have scrapped the fireworks. I talked my group of 8 into leaving after the 7th, thanks in large part to this thread and looking at radar on my droid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattie g Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Word is still no power at my place, and my sister-in-law in White Marsh is still in he dark...and there's a noticeable slight stink in her house from the lack of refrigeration. I fear what we'll come home to on Friday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeeng92 Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Even if this event was forecasted by SPC as a Day 2 and Day 1 moderate risk, would that have changed anything? Would the power companies have been more prepared or local government? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan11295 Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Just checking on power outage progress BGE: 250,000 customers out Dominion 250k out AC Electric (S NJ) 100k out FYI not much better back in Ohio, EAP still have 300k plus out including 125k in metro Columbus alone. Total outages for this event were more that half than that of Hurricane Irene. Since you have no prepositioning of resources here, you are going to have some delays in power restoration.Have read that outage crews are coming. but that takes a bit of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowfan Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I'm amazed as to how far out of touch people are with what is going on around them. I just don't understand how so many people could have been caught off guard by the storms. We had hours of notice that the derecho was coming. Also, it's somewhat amusing that people are now using derecho in the same light as tornado and hurricane. Clueless people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mappy Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I'm amazed as to how far out of touch people are with what is going on around them. I just don't understand how so many people could have been caught off guard by the storms. We had hours of notice that the derecho was coming. Also, it's somewhat amusing that people are now using derecho in the same light as tornado and hurricane. Clueless people. I was listening to a WBALs radio station (Baltimore) this morning and a woman called in and said it was not a typical thunderstorm, it was an un-named hurricane, no ifs ands or buts about it. People are stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mappy Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 The Mayor of Baltimore was just on the same news radio station talking about clean up and what not here in the city, she said that they were expecting thunderstorms, not a derecho, or whatever it's called, so therefore were unprepared. Hey, Mayor, don't you have people who watch for extreme types of weather and activity around the clock? What a piss poor excuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN Transplant Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Headed home late tonight. Power came on yesterday, so at least we will have AC. Can't believe the intersections that are still dark. 123/international in Tyson's, 50/gallows, 50/nutley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyS Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Thanks, and you're right about limited damage in the Fox Mill neigborhood -- there must be a major feeder line to Fox Mill that's down big-time. When you look at Dominion Virginia Power's Interactive Map, it appears that there are only limited outages in Fox Mill, but that's far from the case. I haven't quite figured out how the Dominion grid works, but I can't complain too much because normally we get off easy. My power came back on around 5 P.M. on Sunday after a 42.5 hour outage. Not bad compared to some, but still three times longer in my location than any previous outage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheesyPoofs Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I'm amazed as to how far out of touch people are with what is going on around them. I just don't understand how so many people could have been caught off guard by the storms. We had hours of notice that the derecho was coming. Also, it's somewhat amusing that people are now using derecho in the same light as tornado and hurricane. Clueless people. I agree with you that most people are clueless when it comes to weather, but it is easy to see how one could be caught off guard. If you looked at the forecast at, say, 1PM Friday afternoon, you saw a 30% chance of thunderstorms with no mention of any real, organized severe weather threat (the immediate DC metro was not even under a slight risk at that time). Not everyone is like us -- posting on a weather forum, frequently looking at models/soundings/radar/etc. Most people that see a forecast at 1PM aren't going to check back 4 hours later for updates if there doesn't appear to be a need to (and the forecast as of 1PM Friday didn't give any indication that there was such a need ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mappy Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I agree with you that most people are clueless when it comes to weather, but it is easy to see how one could be caught off guard. If you looked at the forecast at, say, 1PM Friday afternoon, you saw a 30% chance of thunderstorms with no mention of any real, organized severe weather threat (the immediate DC metro was not even under a slight risk at that time). Not everyone is like us -- posting on a weather forum, frequently looking at models/soundings/radar/etc. Most people that see a forecast at 1PM aren't going to check back 4 hours later for updates if there doesn't appear to be a need to (and the forecast as of 1PM Friday didn't give any indication that there was such a need ). BS. Awatch was issued at 630, during news hours, any person with a tv watching a major news station would have seen the watch. Any weather person during their news section would have mentioned it, the watch, would have shown radar. I saw it, my family saw it, neighbors saw it where I was. Saying there was no warning and people were unprepared is a piss poor excuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellinwood Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 There was enough warning to keep people safe, but a little more lead time for the power companies would have been nice. I say this knowing it still would have been a 6-10 hour max lead time of knowing the magnitude of the event, so it still wouldn't have helped much considering one would usually like to see at least a day of notice for the event to get people in place. We knew a storm of at least some potential was going to happen, but not something of this scale... I could imagine the difficulty and frustration of the electric company emergency planners having to justify the cost risk of getting all the people in position out ahead of this system considering how hit-or-miss these events can sometimes be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derecho! Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 federal government open with unscheduled leave/telework. yay! I was not looking forward to dealing with train if we get more storms tonight. So I show up for work in Alexandria and the building is closed due to lack of power, with assorted people in my group standing at the door trying to call people to tell them not to come in. We're a private defense contractor with highly classified facilities and a large security staff (such that a power outage automatically contacts security) - I have no freakin' clue how they didn't then think to activate some sort of company plan to notify people the building is closed, since they had to have known Friday night that power was lost. The nature of my work is such that if I tried to telework I'd be in prison for the next several decades. I love the company but I've only been there a few months and have been sick a lot so I have very little leave. I have no idea what they are going to do about paying people for today (or this week) if this goes on longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mappy Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Trixie, I feel for you, trust me, I do. But I'm sorry, at no point Friday did you look at radar in Illinois or Ohio and go, mmmm that looks pretty bad and if it holds together, well we could be in for some serious winds? I mean, this wasn't your first derecho was it? Edit to add: I'm not saying everyone should have gone out and gotten a generator, but at least be somewhat prepared that it was coming. I got very lucky that the worst missed me south and my power stayed on, but I knew it was coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowfan Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Additionally, obs out of IL, IN and OH were showing that some serious weather was gathering steam and heading our way. I feel bad for folks, too (my power was out for more than a day and I lost a good amount of food), but there was definitely ample warning for folks. Maybe not the power companies and I understand that. Trixie, I feel for you, trust me, I do. But I'm sorry, at no point Friday did you look at radar in Illinois or Ohio and go, mmmm that looks pretty bad and if it holds together, well we could be in for some serious winds? I mean, this wasn't your first derecho was it? Edit to add: I'm not saying everyone should have gone out and gotten a generator, but at least be somewhat prepared that it was coming. I got very lucky that the worst missed me south and my power stayed on, but I knew it was coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheesyPoofs Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 BS. Awatch was issued at 630, during news hours, any person with a tv watching a major news station would have seen the watch. Any weather person during their news section would have mentioned it, the watch, would have shown radar. I saw it, my family saw it, neighbors saw it where I was. Saying there was no warning and people were unprepared is a piss poor excuse. Not everyone is watching TV at 6:30, especially on a Friday evening (and if they are, it probably isn't the local news ). You saw it because you follow the weather. And even if one saw it on the news, I wonder if the wording appropriately described the potential severity of the situation? I'm sure the common person sees "Severe Thunderstorm Watch" and doesn't think twice since areas are under severe watches and rarely see storms that meet severe criteria, if ever. That's not anyone's fault but that person's, but still. As Matt said yesterday, the warnings were inadequate. That's not the fault of the NWS or SPC -- it was a tough event. The warnings for the Jan 25, 2000 storm were inadequate as well...again, not the fault of mets, that's just the nature of weather/forecasting. I usually get defensive whenever someone who is uninformed tries to rail against mets, but this isn't such a case, I don't think. LWX did a great job of indicating the severity of the situation once it became evident what was happening (multiple SPS's, "THIS IS A SERIOUS SITUATION, YOU MUST TAKE COVER NOW" in the warnings, etc). Trixie follows the weather and was unprepared. JacinDc follows the weather and said he had no clue what was going on until he came on here and saw 10 new pages in this thread. If many weenies were unprepared, I don't see how you can expect some random guy who can't tell you the difference between sleet and hail to look at radar, see a derecho is moving across Indiana and Ohio, and say "oh man, better prepare!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gymengineer Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 BS. Awatch was issued at 630, during news hours, any person with a tv watching a major news station would have seen the watch. Any weather person during their news section would have mentioned it, the watch, would have shown radar. I saw it, my family saw it, neighbors saw it where I was. Saying there was no warning and people were unprepared is a piss poor excuse. I don't think the mayor was talking about the citizens being unprepared. She was talking about government, officials, etc. I do think some of you are being a bit too hard on quotes local officials are giving out. We have severe thunderstorm watches pretty frequently, with isolated incidences of severe weather within the watch boxes, and I don't think it's realistic to expect a huge mobilization of resources every time we have a severe thunderstorm watch. This event was clearly a once in a generation for severe weather (Justification? Max wind gust in the 70 mph range in all three official reporting stations supports that a larger portion of the region got 60-75 mph winds than any other single weather event until you go back to Hazel), without anywhere near the warning you could confidently provide for other once-in-a-generation phenomena such as tropical storms (Isabel) or snowstorms (2/2010). What do you all think would have been the appropriate government and utility company gear-up for the local tornado outbreak we had last month? That event came with more lead-time and more confidence during the early parts of the lead-time. Also, remember, there was *supposed* to be a widespread wind-damage event accompanying the main line after the discrete super-cells that never happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheesyPoofs Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Additionally, obs out of IL, IN and OH were showing that some serious weather was gathering steam and heading our way. I feel bad for folks, too (my power was out for more than a day and I lost a good amount of food), but there was definitely ample warning for folks. Maybe not the power companies and I understand that. Why would anyone who doesn't have an interest in weather spend his time looking at weather observations in Indiana and Ohio though? If there wasn't ample warning for many people who have a strong interest in the weather, I don't see how one can say there was ample warning for the general public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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