No, this year’s storm hit on a weekend, and didn’t really get going in Raleigh until nighttime. Most people stayed home. That year’s storm arrived pretty much as forecast but a lot of people ignored the forecast because a storm forecast a couple weeks earlier had fizzled out. It was around lunchtime on a weekday and everyone thought they could still stay at work and drive home and it wouldn’t be a big deal. Then the snow came quick and heavy and everyone panicked and tried to go home at the same time, unleashing rush hour traffic on bad road conditions with traffic jams blocking the plows from treating the roads.
The one thing they left out was school buses. Schools did let out early, but too late, so the traffic from the buses and parents melted the first layer of snow, with no plowing or salting. So it refroze into sheets of ice before people left work.
Source: Me in traffic for 12 hours.
Note: I now live in a place so cold that this week I hiked in -6F and had ice cream outside at 13F. 😃
Forecasts were all over the place, and I actually saw this afternoon radar saying there was heavy snow, a forecast for the time saying it should be raining, and I saw nothing. North Raleigh area got the earlier bit of sleet/ice layer and then maybe an inch of snow, but that’s about it.
The shield held. I haven’t been out to see the road conditions, but they’ll probably be worse the next two nights as we get some melt and then refreeze.
It’s super cool how the Republicans have stopped sharing weather satellite data with weather forecasters and cut the budget for sending up weather balloons. They really govern for the people, ya know?
No, this year’s storm hit on a weekend, and didn’t really get going in Raleigh until nighttime. Most people stayed home. That year’s storm arrived pretty much as forecast but a lot of people ignored the forecast because a storm forecast a couple weeks earlier had fizzled out. It was around lunchtime on a weekday and everyone thought they could still stay at work and drive home and it wouldn’t be a big deal. Then the snow came quick and heavy and everyone panicked and tried to go home at the same time, unleashing rush hour traffic on bad road conditions with traffic jams blocking the plows from treating the roads.
I love that you provided an actual and substantive answer, thank you!
The one thing they left out was school buses. Schools did let out early, but too late, so the traffic from the buses and parents melted the first layer of snow, with no plowing or salting. So it refroze into sheets of ice before people left work.
Source: Me in traffic for 12 hours.
Note: I now live in a place so cold that this week I hiked in -6F and had ice cream outside at 13F. 😃
Forecasts were all over the place, and I actually saw this afternoon radar saying there was heavy snow, a forecast for the time saying it should be raining, and I saw nothing. North Raleigh area got the earlier bit of sleet/ice layer and then maybe an inch of snow, but that’s about it.
The shield held. I haven’t been out to see the road conditions, but they’ll probably be worse the next two nights as we get some melt and then refreeze.
It’s super cool how the Republicans have stopped sharing weather satellite data with weather forecasters and cut the budget for sending up weather balloons. They really govern for the people, ya know?