OUR PERCEPTION OF THE WEATHER
Written by: Brian Neudorff
One of the things I really like about being on the social networking outlet of Twitter is how people will respond to something. A great example of this was this morning and the snow. The comments were coming nonstop and most of them expressed shock that it was snowing in late April. Some of the comments made it seem like this never happens in Rochester. Of course if you've follow enough weather here in Rochester you know that is not true. Monthly snowfall for an average April is 5 inches and for an average May it is around 0.5" I even pointed out through both mine (@BrianNeudorff) and the News 8 Weather (@News_8_WX) Twitter accounts that the record snowfall in May is 10 inches set back on May 7, 1989. Many people still remember the 1996 Mother's Day snow that put down at least 1 inch of snow in Rochester on May 12th.
I bring all these up because it amazes me a how short memories are when it comes to the weather. We get a strong warm start to spring like we did this year and when we get a couple of flakes (yes at times it did come down at a nice clip) we start calling it a snow storms and saw one person on Twitter refer to it as a "blizzard."
If this kind of snow happened in Jan, Feb or even March it would be nothing described as a a few flakes maybe even called flurries and with temperatures in the morning above freezing it would almost be a heat wave. The same goes for the firs time we hit 60 during the spring. I remember this year near the end of March we had a day get into the 60s and people were in shorts and short sleeves but if that happens again in June or July then we are wearing pants, long sleeves and possible coats.
When it comes to the weather I really think it comes down to our own personal perception of how we think the weather should behave versus what the weather actually does. If we have a warm start to spring we quickly want to pronounce winter over and that there will be no snow. Even meteorologist can get caught up in the act from time to time. I have a saying when it comes to the weather especially if someone says it's too cold, too hot or even too wet, "When it comes to the weather it's mind over matter - if you don't mind it doesn't matter." When the weather isn't going the way I would like I try to go back to that saying and make the most of it.
I think the "shock" is because Brian made it sound like people were over-reporting the rain this morning. In fact, he said to not bring the umbrella and that any rain that may be in the NE area of Rochester would be long gone (this was at 6:30)soon. As I drove in from Livonia the rain got stronger and it turned into snow. It is now 10:25 and it is still snowing in Henrietta.
ReplyDeleteYou're correct I made a mistake this morning. I really anticipated the feature and precipitation to stay mostly north and move to the east. I didn't expect it to go as far south as it did. Also early in the morning I was constantly going outside checking to see what was verifying on the radar. The first few times when there was reports of precipitation over Rochester I was not feeling anything.
ReplyDeleteAs the column of air cool and became more saturated sprinkles began to change to snow and at times large snow flakes that lowered visibilities.
Now to correct you on 1 thing I never said people were "Over-reporting" the rain. I was basing that report on my own experience outside our studios and based on Radar data.
Like I said it was my forecast I was wrong and I apologize for that - Brian
Because of the snow this morning the possibility of Rochester having the shortest measurable snow season on record is officially over. The airport received 0.2" of snow this morning. Before today the last measurable snow was on Feb. 28th - Brian
ReplyDeleteSo where does that put us for the season, Brian? Last I hear we were somewhere around 89" . Did it put us to 90 yet?
ReplyDeleteLooks like it puts us now at 89.8" maybe 89.9" depending on what fell around 10am
ReplyDeleteSOOOO close. I'd love to just hit 90 for the season.
ReplyDeleteOne thing's for sure. We've kicked KBUF's butt this year.
Great post Brian. I was not shocked at all and actually thought it was alot of fun. I laughed at work while others scorned! - K
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