I No Longer Trust the Weatherman

This morning, based upon the weather information on the news, I cancelled my afternoon classes. According to the weather forecasters, we were to experience freezing rain and sleet which would change to snow, and this would last most of the morning, giving us about two inches of snow. Furthermore, the temperatures would fall throughout the day. One could assume, listening to this information, that we would have snow/ice on the ground, and that this snow would last at least until tomorrow, based upon the promise of low temperatures.

No more than thirty minutes after I cancelled classes, it stopped snowing, and the snow that was beginning to stick onto surfaces began to melt away. Right now, I am looking out my window and can see the shadow of my house because now the sun is starting to shine.

Today, the weather forecasters look at several computer models and pick what they think is the most likely one, but I think that the weather people did a much better job years ago before they began to rely on computers. I think that the old folklore that people used to rely on (example: number of fogs in August equals number of snows in winter) are more accurate than most of the computer models.

Next time, I won't cancel class until I can't get out the driveway.

Snow Day!

This morning I woke up to find that it was snowing outside, and there was about an inch of snow on the ground. This is the most snow I've seen in ages.

Of course, I had a bit of a dillema. My students have a paper due today, but I really don't want anyone getting killed on the highway on my account, so I decided to cancel class today. I doubt anyone will complain.

So I get to enjoy a snow day at home today. But it isn't quite as fun as when I was a kid and school was cancelled. Now I'm the one who has to weigh all the factors and make the decision, and I'm the one who has to rearrange the schedule to keep the class caught up. Being a grownup sort of sucks sometimes, but I still like snow days.