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Ice Day - January 2014


lockmat

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So I'm just curious how many of your employers either closed business for the day or delayed opening.

 

We have locations all over Houston and they did not close any buildings. Only one that I know of delayed for a few hours.

 

Companies say their most important asset is their people, but I know the the reason to stay open is $$$. It'd be one thing if this was the northeast, but people and the city here are not equipped to deal with this, nor do I expect them to for something that rarely happens.

 

Although my building is open, I'm still home waiting for it to break 32 before I go into work, which I may have to use a vacation day since it's almost pointless going in when it's an hour away.

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Ours closed. I came in anyway, as power was out and I had to make sure when it came back on everything was online so people could work from home.

 

My assessment of the road situation is that there was no ice on the roads. Even still, they were creeping along at a snails pace on the freeway, I guess they don't know how to tell the difference between rain/ice. Anyway, good on them, better to be cautious than dangerous.

 

Even though I didn't see any, there were still 4 accidents on my 12 mile drive to work. Weird. I'm going back home after lunch and working the rest of the day there.

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Quite a few wrecks on 45 North as well. No less than 3 dozen reports of crashes along the North and West Belts. It was pretty bad for our standards, but I bet the tow truck drivers feel like it's Christmas again. They are making money hand over fist on a day like this.

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Don't look now but it appears as though a more significant snow/ice event could be headed this way on Tuesday. As a meteorologist, I don't put much faith into any one model but there seems to be a growing consensus that the same set up we had with this past ice storm will be present on Tuesday except colder temps and more moisture. We'll see. Don't get excited---yet.

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Don't look now but it appears as though a more significant snow/ice event could be headed this way on Tuesday. As a meteorologist, I don't put much faith into any one model but there seems to be a growing consensus that the same set up we had with this past ice storm will be present on Tuesday except colder temps and more moisture. We'll see. Don't get excited---yet.

Looks like your right, as we're now in another Winter Weather Watch..

A key difference between this event and that on Friday is that temperatures should be a few degrees cooler, allowing for freezing rain or snow from the outset, and making it more likely that the precipitation will remain freezing on the ground. Thus there is the potential for this event to be more severe than that experienced on Friday.

http://blog.chron.com/weather/2014/01/winter-storm-watch-issued-for-tuesday/?cmpid=hpbn#18411101=0
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Thus far, this forecast is a bust.It sure looks like the forecasting computer models missed this one. Billions of dollars impact? Our office is closed. So far, the reliance upon the forecasting is certainly misplaced. I will work from home. What about those not so fortunate who might miss some pay? And schools closed? For what? This is a joke...

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I think most schools closed.

 

I didn't make the call till right at 5pm yesterday, and my call was that my department was open barring an email sent the next morning, I told my team that they obviously had to use their best judgment, regardless.

Edited by samagon
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Thus far, this forecast is a bust.It sure looks like the forecasting computer models missed this one. Billions of dollars impact? Our office is closed. So far, the reliance upon the forecasting is certainly misplaced. I will work from home. What about those not so fortunate who might miss some pay? And schools closed? For what? This is a joke...

I don't see how you can call this a joke. So the forecast was off. When many districts and companies made the decision, the NWS was forecasting the majority of the ice to form in the late morning to early afternoon, after everyone would be at work or school. It is below freezing right now where I am, and we had freezing rain much of the day. Though it is barely below freezing and only a few overpasses have frozen over, if it where a few degrees colder the situation would be much worse. So a decision must be made and in our society we side on caution. Most people I know that stayed home, worked from home. Students will make up the days.

 

Last week, when many offices did not close, we had 100's of accidents reported in a few hours time. I had to go to work (I would have stayed home, my office gave me the option but I had critical testing that could not wait) and I had several instances where I lost traction on I-45. I left late and avoided most of the traffic, but the roads were frozen over during rush hour. If the timing was different, there would not an an issue. But decisions on closing have to be made based off of 12-24 hour forecasts.

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