Winter Storms, Pittsburgh & Weather Forecasts (Ross Township, Fox Chapel: chapel, dangerous, office)

[Flamingo13]

And the day is still (relatively) young.

[Goinback2011]

Originally Posted by gg

Our moron governor closed the turnpike to trucks. So overblown.

It's snowing east of here. Check the radar.

[Tractor Face]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

He made a call based on what the "science" was predicting at the time. If he hadn't done anything and people were injured or worse from driving in treacherous conditions, then you'd be criticizing him for a lack of action.

"Science" ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

[bradjl2009]

I'd just like to say I've been following this storm and Pittsburgh isn't the only place accumulations were cut. The same happened in Harrisburg, Allentown/Bethlehem, Scranton, New Jersey, NYC, Southern CT, and Boston.

[LibertyRutledge]

Originally Posted by PGH423

Predicting weather is probably one of the hardest jobs in the world. In baseball, you're outstanding if you get a hit on a 95 mph fastball 30% of the time. And no healthy person ever asks their physician to predict how long they'll live or exactly how many days their cold will last. Predicting the future is hard. Science is hard. Anyone who can do better should give it a try - if you do better than the current pros, you'll make a fortune.

Ok then admit you have no idea what you’re doing and quit driving people into a panic. OP is right it’s been going on a long time now. Can’t tell you how many times my weather channel app promises rain for days in advance with 90-100% chance then the day comes and I literally don’t receive a drop. With snow, Pittsburgh really seems to be just 25-50 miles south of the zone where the snow and rain are separated.

If they are calling for any temp above 30 degrees while simultaneously calling for a lot of accumulation, I take it with a grain of salt these days. More often than not Pittsburgh just misses the snow side of these storms by a small distance. For those that remember the crazy snows of yesteryear, it’s food for thought to consider what a 1-2 degree average temperature warming can do. If it were a few degrees colder right now we would be blanketed in fresh powder right now with more coming all night long. But this type of wet weather instead of snow is really the new normal for us. Ask any ski resort operator on the east coast how much money has been lost to lack of snow in Nov-Dec over past decade.

They even screwed up the temps. My weather app said high of 2°C today and we got up to 5-6°C in reality

[Flamingo13]

5-6 is SO much warmer than 2... sigh

[PGH423]

Originally Posted by LibertyRutledge

Ok then admit you have no idea what you’re doing and quit driving people into a panic. OP is right it’s been going on a long time now. Can’t tell you how many times my weather channel app promises rain for days in advance with 90-100% chance then the day comes and I literally don’t receive a drop. With snow, Pittsburgh really seems to be just 25-50 miles south of the zone where the snow and rain are separated.

If they are calling for any temp above 30 degrees while simultaneously calling for a lot of accumulation, I take it with a grain of salt these days. More often than not Pittsburgh just misses the snow side of these storms by a small distance. For those that remember the crazy snows of yesteryear, it’s food for thought to consider what a 1-2 degree average temperature warming can do. If it were a few degrees colder right now we would be blanketed in fresh powder right now with more coming all night long. But this type of wet weather instead of snow is really the new normal for us. Ask any ski resort operator on the east coast how much money has been lost to lack of snow in Nov-Dec over past decade.

They even screwed up the temps. My weather app said high of 2°C today and we got up to 5-6°C in reality

What source are you using? It is your job as a consumer to find an honest source.

National Weather Service (weather.gov) is the most honest about uncertainty. Yesterday they called for 4 to 6 inches for Pittsburgh but specifically said they had "low confidence" in the prediction. The prior day they said 6 inches but referred to the Pittsburgh metro area as the "area of greatest uncertainty." The words "low confidence" and "area of greatest uncertainty" are literally written in big font on their prediction maps. Depending on many factors, some storm systems are easier to predict but this was clearly a harder one.

For the record, the National Weather Service is a nonprofit government site and all other sources (accuweather, the weather channel, weather underground, etc.) are for profit sites. That said, accuweather does give a percentage for each range of snowfall (e.g., percentage chance of less than 1 inch, 1 to 3, etc.). If I remember right, they had about 15% chance of less than 3 inches.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

It's snowing east of here. Check the radar.

Yes. I’m near Bellefonte at the moment. Around 3” so far.

[gg]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Yes. I’m near Bellefonte at the moment. Around 3” so far.

3 inches is not enough to kill a lot of shipping from the east and killing part of our regions economy.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

It's snowing east of here. Check the radar.

A dusting at best.