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Central PA thread - Spring-like weather now, but...


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I agree, more or less, with the call on keeping the UP campus open tomorrow. But, beyond that, into Monday night and Tuesday (and perhaps beyond), when conditions will become much more severe, I am very skeptical about Bittner's fallacious line of reasoning. Power failures are likely -- even if central PA isn't in the "brunt of the storm." There will still be a fairly broad spectrum of conditions less than those associated with the brunt that will qualify as rather severe and disruptive to society. If the power is out or if professors, workers, and even some students cannot make it to campus due to blocked or flooded roads, I am rather puzzled as to why the campus should be open and how it can be open. If conditions end up being as bad as I think they will be, failure to close the campus would be irresponsible.

This downplaying of the expected conditions reminds me of a similar official communique that Northern Illinois University, my undergraduate institution, released a day before the February 2011 Groundhog Day blizzard (in many ways, similar to this event). They were reluctant to close the campus and used the reasoning that northern Illinois experiences snowstorms of that intensity every year, which was malarkey, considering that ended up producing DeKalb's greatest single snowfall on record. In the end, the campus ended up closing for two days and a half.

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I agree, more or less, with the call on keeping the UP campus open tomorrow. But, beyond that, into Monday night and Tuesday (and perhaps beyond), when conditions will become much more severe, I am very skeptical about Bittner's fallacious line of reasoning. Power failures are likely -- even if central PA isn't in the "brunt of the storm." There will still be a fairly broad spectrum of conditions less than those associated with the brunt that will qualify as rather severe and disruptive to society. If the power is out or if professors, workers, and even some students cannot make it to campus due to blocked or flooded roads, I am rather puzzled as to why the campus should be open and how it can be open. If conditions end up being as bad as I think they will be, failure to close the campus would be irresponsible.

This downplaying of the expected conditions reminds me of a similar official communique that Northern Illinois University, my undergraduate institution, released a day before the February 2011 Groundhog Day blizzard (in many ways, similar to this event). They were reluctant to close the campus and used the reasoning that northern Illinois experiences snowstorms of that intensity every year, which was malarkey, considering that ended up producing DeKalb's greatest single snowfall on record. In the end, the campus ended up closing for two days and a half.

Yea I agree they should generally be OK for Monday. Most of Tuesday though, especially in the morning could be pretty rough. I'm not sure I remember the last time they totally closed for anything and it def wasn't in my time there. Branch campuses on the other hand will close for things like a bigger snowstorm. Not sure what they'll do with this.. I trust that they're taking it seriously though.

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I agree, more or less, with the call on keeping the UP campus open tomorrow. But, beyond that, into Monday night and Tuesday (and perhaps beyond), when conditions will become much more severe, I am very skeptical about Bittner's fallacious line of reasoning. Power failures are likely -- even if central PA isn't in the "brunt of the storm." There will still be a fairly broad spectrum of conditions less than those associated with the brunt that will qualify as rather severe and disruptive to society. If the power is out or if professors, workers, and even some students cannot make it to campus due to blocked or flooded roads, I am rather puzzled as to why the campus should be open and how it can be open. If conditions end up being as bad as I think they will be, failure to close the campus would be irresponsible.

This downplaying of the expected conditions reminds me of a similar official communique that Northern Illinois University, my undergraduate institution, released a day before the February 2011 Groundhog Day blizzard (in many ways, similar to this event). They were reluctant to close the campus and used the reasoning that northern Illinois experiences snowstorms of that intensity every year, which was malarkey, considering that ended up producing DeKalb's greatest single snowfall on record. In the end, the campus ended up closing for two days and a half.

Yea I agree they should generally be OK for Monday. Most of Tuesday though, especially in the morning could be pretty rough. I'm not sure I remember the last time they totally closed for anything and it def wasn't in my time there. Branch campuses on the other hand will close for things like a bigger snowstorm. Not sure what they'll do with this.. I trust that they're taking it seriously though.

I work at PSU and I am seeing a fair amount of people in my social media feed who seem to be expecting an ordinary windy showery day, especially some administration.

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High Wind Warning Updated to 70MPH now!

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA

616 PM EDT SUN OCT 28 2012

...STRONG WINDS AND POWER OUTAGES LIKELY MONDAY INTO TUESDAY...

.THE REMNANTS OF HURRICANE SANDY WILL TRACK WESTWARD INTO

PENNSYLVANIA MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY...BRINGING STRONG...GUSTY

WINDS TO THE AREA.

PAZ036-056>059-063>066-291000-

/O.CON.KCTP.HW.W.0002.121029T1200Z-121030T1600Z/

FRANKLIN-PERRY-DAUPHIN-SCHUYLKILL-LEBANON-CUMBERLAND-ADAMS-YORK-

LANCASTER-

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CHAMBERSBURG...NEWPORT...HARRISBURG...

HERSHEY...POTTSVILLE...LEBANON...CARLISLE...GETTYSBURG...YORK...

LANCASTER

616 PM EDT SUN OCT 28 2012

...HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 8 AM MONDAY TO NOON

EDT TUESDAY...

* WINDS...NORTH 35 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 70 MPH.

* TIMING...BEGINNING SHORTLY AFTER DAYBREAK MONDAY...AND LASTING

THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING.

* IMPACTS...NUMEROUS DOWNED TREES...AND WIDESPREAD...POTENTIALLY

LONG-DURATION POWER OUTAGES.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A HIGH WIND WARNING MEANS A HAZARDOUS HIGH WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED

OR OCCURRING. SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OF AT LEAST 40 MPH OR GUSTS

OF 58 MPH OR MORE CAN LEAD TO PROPERTY DAMAGE.

IF YOU EXPERIENCE A POWER OUTAGE...DO NOT USE GENERATORS...

GRILLS OR OTHER GASOLINE...PROPANE OR CHARCOAL BURNING DEVICES

INSIDE YOUR HOME OR GARAGE. THEY PRODUCE CARBON MONOXIDE...AN

ODORLESS...COLORLESS GAS THAT KILLS MORE THAN 500 AMERICANS EACH

YEAR. GENERATORS SHOULD BE PLACED OUTSIDE...AWAY FROM DOORS

WINDOWS AND VENTS THAT COULD ALLOW CARBON MONOXIDE TO SEEP

INSIDE. DO NOT LET YOUR CAR IDLE INSIDE THE GARAGE...EVEN IF THE

GARAGE DOOR IS OPEN.

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I work at PSU and I am seeing a fair amount of people in my social media feed who seem to be expecting an ordinary windy showery day, especially some administration.

The part of the whole thing that really irks me is the whole "we're not in the direct path of the storm". Well yea... technically, we ARE in the direct path of the storm. The low pressure center is literally going to either go over our head or just east. Obviously, we aren't going to see the type of stuff the NJ coast and NYC/LI are about to experience and the central counties will probably see somewhat mitigated wind gusts (and i use that term lightly). But still, this isn't going to be run of the mill. I'm curious to see what actually happens cuz this is such a rare track/setup.

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