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Central PA - second half of March 2013


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This times a million...absolutely no need for any of the closings or delays.

We have 6.2 on the ground here.  Schools closed and not one Penn Dot truck  For what we have here there is no way buses could get around on these steep windy narrow roads that are unplowed.  I think if Penn Dot kept up down here schools could be open, but they failed to do so.  I noticed schools stay open here more in snow events than in Maryland which I do agree that they should.  In MD everything is just so congested.  Rain can turn a 40 minute commute to 2 hours. You put school buses in the mix what a mess.  I  

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coworker just said he got a call from the dallastown area school district superintendent apologizing for not cancelling school because "they got more snow than they expected, the forecast changed."

 

He said some buses have been stuck on the roads for over an hour and have not been able to make it to school.

 

 

I'd like to know what forecast he was using, NWS has been pretty consistent the past few days.

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I guess I'm old school when it comes to delays and closures. There was nothing extraordinary about this snowfall. Nothing proper footwear and a little common sense caution couldn't handle. 

 

There is nothing wrong with delaying until 10 am to give OPP a chance to get the sidewalks clear. Other than the woman who fell, a professor in my wife's department is currently at Mt. Nittany Medical Center  because he fell outside Rec Hall. Proper footwear do not prevent falls on ice, and common sense is delaying classes until the sidewalks are in better shape - especially this time of year. 

 

This times a million...absolutely no need for any of the closings or delays.

 

Saw this on YDR.com
 
9 a.m. There are a number of reports of cars sliding off the sides of the roads, plus a few school vans and buses stuck. No serious injuries reported.
 
8:30 a.m. Eastern York School District is reporting up to an hour delay for some buses. On its website, it notes that if parents feel it is unsafe for your child to come to school, you may keep them at home.
 
If stuck school buses and cars sliding off the road are not evidence of need, what is? 
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coworker just said he got a call from the dallastown area school district superintendent apologizing for not cancelling school because "they got more snow than they expected, the forecast changed."

 

He said some buses have been stuck on the roads for over an hour and have not been able to make it to school.

 

 

I'd like to know what forecast he was using, NWS has been pretty consistent the past few days.

Weather forecasters are an easy punching bag/blame b**ch. This happens all the time. It reinforces the image in the public mind that they are never right. It's frustrating. 

 

I don't see what's so bad about the forecast in York County based on this: 

 

 

...YORK COUNTY...   HANOVER                6.0   920 AM  3/25  TRAINED SPOTTER   DALLASTOWN             5.6   815 AM  3/25  TRAINED SPOTTER   LOGANVILLE             5.0   839 AM  3/25  TRAINED SPOTTER   YORK                   5.0   845 AM  3/25  SOCIAL MEDIA   RED LION               4.0   830 AM  3/25  TRAINED SPOTTER   SPRING GROVE           4.0   845 AM  3/25  SOCIAL MEDIA   YORK HAVEN             2.7   900 AM  3/25  COOP
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The conditions across York County are pretty varied, Eastern Schools (where I live) had much worse road conditions then I experienced closer to York proper.  It was apparent pretty early in the morning that the roads weren't going to be cleared out by my home.  It's a shame, I'm sure those decision-makers are frustrated.

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One final thing about snow and impact...way too many people focus on large amounts of snow as a measure of impact and that's proven wrong over and over again. There are other factors; a 1-3" snowfall can have a lot of impact if it falls fast or during rush hour. One of Pennsylvania's worst highway accidents happened in January 2004 due to a 1/2" of snow from a snow squall. 

 

When I worked at AccuWeather, I had this idea to label storm impacts for our TV clients using a scale similar to Homeland Security. Everyone liked it until Elliot Abrams rightly spoke up. He noted that if we have a low impact for an event that has low accumulation of snow, and something serious happens, we would look bad. He gave an example of a massive accident in Hartford in the late 90s that occurred due to a clipper that put down 1-2". The accident had many injuries and a few deaths, and snarled roads for hours. As he put it, and I am saying that here, focusing on amounts for snow events is not taking into account reality, and that there are other factors to consider. In this case, time of snowfall makes this event have much more impact for the average person than if we got a foot of snow on a Saturday night/Sunday. 

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The conditions across York County are pretty varied, Eastern Schools (where I live) had much worse road conditions then I experienced closer to York proper.  It was apparent pretty early in the morning that the roads weren't going to be cleared out by my home.  It's a shame, I'm sure those decision-makers are frustrated.

From what I brother told me parents in Dallastown school district pounded the administration over delays/closings this year and demanded that stop doing them for "minimal events". It has to be frustrating. 

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There is nothing wrong with delaying until 10 am to give OPP a chance to get the sidewalks clear. Other than the woman who fell, a professor in my wife's department is currently at Mt. Nittany Medical Center because he fell outside Rec Hall. Proper footwear do not prevent falls on ice, and common sense is delaying classes until the sidewalks are in better shape - especially this time of year.

Saw this on YDR.com

9 a.m. There are a number of reports of cars sliding off the sides of the roads, plus a few school vans and buses stuck. No serious injuries reported.

8:30 a.m. Eastern York School District is reporting up to an hour delay for some buses. On its website, it notes that if parents feel it is unsafe for your child to come to school, you may keep them at home.

If stuck school buses and cars sliding off the road are not evidence of need, what is?

Do you have any idea about if PSU is legally liable for injuries due to uncleared sidewalks? I'd imagine they are to some extent, but then again it's very difficult to ensure everythings clear.

A delay this morning probably would have been smart though, it was rough out there for someone who is less coordinated than most haha.

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From what I brother told me parents in Dallastown school district pounded the administration over delays/closings this year and demanded that stop doing them for "minimal events". It has to be frustrating. 

I actually am acquaintances with the superintendent at that school district; he told me that he can't sleep on nights before snowstorms worrying about his kids... and when they do early dismissal, he stays at the offices until all the kids are delivered home safely.

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Do you have any idea about if PSU is legally liable for injuries due to uncleared sidewalks? I'd imagine they are to some extent, but then again it's very difficult to ensure everythings clear.

A delay this morning probably would have been smart though, it was rough out there for someone who is less coordinated than most haha.

Don't know about PSU, but the Capital puts out barricades at the start of winter blocking sidewalks around the complex about 70 percent of the way off. By law this waives them from any liability if someone falls from snow/ice and injures themselves while on the capitol grounds.

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Well, it apparently just isn't meant to be here in Carlisle this season.  Tomorrow is the 3-month anniversary of my biggest snow event of this season....3.5" on December 26th.  That was the second of the three-in-a-row storms we had Christmas week, and the one the ultimately changed to rain during the evening that night.  All the other events of this season have been around or less than 2.5".  My total for this storm is 2.0" and it's already melted down to 1.6" as the temp has risen up to 33.6".  Last Monday's event of 2.5" even beat out today's.  The strange thing about this one is that nothing accumulated on the roads or sidewalks, and the snow began well before sunrise.  Just last Monday the snow didn't even start until 2:30 in the afternoon, and by 4:00pm I already had an inch and it was sticking to the sidewalks and streets!  I guess the weather will always keep us scratching our heads which is why we all love it and sometimes hate it so much!

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Weather forecasters are an easy punching bag/blame b**ch. This happens all the time. It reinforces the image in the public mind that they are never right. It's frustrating. 

 

I don't see what's so bad about the forecast in York County based on this: 

 

 

...YORK COUNTY...   HANOVER                6.0   920 AM  3/25  TRAINED SPOTTER   DALLASTOWN             5.6   815 AM  3/25  TRAINED SPOTTER   LOGANVILLE             5.0   839 AM  3/25  TRAINED SPOTTER   YORK                   5.0   845 AM  3/25  SOCIAL MEDIA   RED LION               4.0   830 AM  3/25  TRAINED SPOTTER   SPRING GROVE           4.0   845 AM  3/25  SOCIAL MEDIA   YORK HAVEN             2.7   900 AM  3/25  COOP

 

Yea that area was consistently forecast by CTP to be in the 3-4" or 4-6" range. Looks like parts of York/Lancaster finally did well for a change, def a little better than I thought they would do. I figured they would have the lower advisory totals of 2-3" while west of the river and up towards H-burg had more of the 4-5".. but it turns out the stripe of better snows ended up further south and didn't discriminate on what side of I-81 one was on. Either way, considering the timing (early rush) and how hard it came down this morning in spots, it was bound to be a pretty high impact.. and I've noticed around here the last couple events that people have just seemed to have already packed up their driving skills for the year when it comes to driving in snow. 

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Getting a burst of heavier snow. It's too bad it's so late in the year.. or else we probably could've drawn out a couple more inches from the lingering snows today. My measuring surface has been wet since I cleared it after the initial 6 or so hour period where the majority of accumulation occurred. 

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IT doesn't matter if this is a non event for most people. We live in sue happy place. you fall on the ice, you sue. Parents are so used to school closing for minor snow falls, that if they don't close, then the parents panic.

 

Kids get used to the schools closing early, when they get to college, they expect the same rules to apply.

OT:  Parents are awful.  I'm so happy I'm never having kids.  

 

So how did everyone fare with the snow...1" - 3"?

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Well how did I do?

 

Per spotter reports, I tried to utilize more recent ones:

FIG - 2.8" (as of 8:15am)

UNV- approx 2-3"

AOO - 5.0" (the total reported by myself as well as someone from Hollidaysburg on the southern end of Altoona)

JST - 6.5"

MDT - haven't seen anything recent

It looks like your call on those select locations did pretty well.

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