Weather update
Dec. 1st, 2006 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoWell, it's interesting. Apparently we are in an island of relative calm surrounded by much heavier weather. Looking at the weather analysis on the NOAA.gov site, we seem to have had only about an inch and a half of precipitation (that's if it were rain, of course.) Some parts of northern Illinois had the equivalent of five inches or more, which is over two feet of snow I think. Walking around outside, the deepest spot I could find was about eight inches, the average is somewhat under seven. It is still snowing pretty hard, however. The temperature is about 26F and expected to stay just below freezing today, dropping lower for the rest of the weekend as it often does following a major snowstorm here.
Things are definitely closed. All the schools in the area are shut down. That's not too surprising, running school buses in these conditions would be foolhardy at best. I really think that schools and businesses stay open far too often when weather really would warrant closing. It's a sort of macho bravado combined with that old stupid Puritan work ethic. On the whole, it would make more sense to conserve energy and keep the roads open for essential and emergency services. Let the folks who clear streets and parking lots have a crack at it BEFORE getting your car stuck in the snow and leaving it there for a week, and all that. But people just don't think that. It snows and they fret, staring out the window, just itching to get in their car and go somewhere. I guess they just have nothing to keep them occupied, which is sad.
I retract (in part) the negative comments about the NWS. For once, they seem to have been fairly accurate. This is a major storm, and the heaviest single snow accumulation we have had at our location since January of 1999 if my memory serves. On that occasion, I called in to work (Columbia College in Chicago) to tell them I would not make it. The college did open, which was silly. In any case, my normal commute back then was over two hours, and would have been more like four under those conditions.
So, we stay home today. No shortage of things to do, just have to avoid the temptation of slipping back under the quilt and snoozing the day away.
Things are definitely closed. All the schools in the area are shut down. That's not too surprising, running school buses in these conditions would be foolhardy at best. I really think that schools and businesses stay open far too often when weather really would warrant closing. It's a sort of macho bravado combined with that old stupid Puritan work ethic. On the whole, it would make more sense to conserve energy and keep the roads open for essential and emergency services. Let the folks who clear streets and parking lots have a crack at it BEFORE getting your car stuck in the snow and leaving it there for a week, and all that. But people just don't think that. It snows and they fret, staring out the window, just itching to get in their car and go somewhere. I guess they just have nothing to keep them occupied, which is sad.
I retract (in part) the negative comments about the NWS. For once, they seem to have been fairly accurate. This is a major storm, and the heaviest single snow accumulation we have had at our location since January of 1999 if my memory serves. On that occasion, I called in to work (Columbia College in Chicago) to tell them I would not make it. The college did open, which was silly. In any case, my normal commute back then was over two hours, and would have been more like four under those conditions.
So, we stay home today. No shortage of things to do, just have to avoid the temptation of slipping back under the quilt and snoozing the day away.
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Date: 2006-12-01 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 11:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 01:34 am (UTC)Even without the snow, it was a good day here to stay holed up indoors. I was watching squirrels with Dave today and they were all huddled on a low tree limb, seeming unwilling to head up the tree to the big nest, which must have been swaying way too much.