Winter white goes, but the cold hangs on

Why is this story still the top on the "comments" list?

I cannot watch the local (bad) news and weather report anymore. It is too hyped up and drawn out. I suggest the NOAA website . . . nobody to sensationalize and they have radar. Check it early in the morning and before you go to bed and you will be as up-to-date as the tv weatherpersons.

i was born n raised in s. norfolk. left about 20 yrs. ago and its nice to see that local media is the same... same here in sunny fla. . well, gotta go fishing, enjoy the winter.....gmc...

That is mathematically more accurate than spinning a wheel with even just 4 options (and we all know that there are more than 4 options when forecasting weather) or flipping a coin. Let's be nice to each other now. Thank you!

Okay... so, I do have to concur that the hype on the local media tends to be a bit much. However, in the defense of you local media meteorologists, they are likely not the ones hyping up the storm. That probably falls on the news director who wants good ratings. The meteorologists probably knew that there was a chance of snow a week ago, but kept it hush-hush, as to not let their bosses know. If they had, then the hype would have started days ago! Give the meteorologists a break. If you want to complain to someone, why don't you complain to station management, instead of a comment board on a newspaper website. I still have to disagree, however, with the harsh accusations of meteorologists only being right 25% of the time. Studies have been done and estimate that the accuracy is actually around 80%. Before I even went to school for meteorology I did a thesis while at William & Mary in regards to forecast accuracy. I tested the National Weather Service (Wakefield), weather.com, and a local TV station. weather.com and the local TV station actually tended to be more accurate and were accurate around 60-75% of the time according to my study. That is mathematically more accur

Weathermen cannot get it right everytime. They tend to over-play the
situation. Simply tell us. "we may get some snow and/or rain. Stop
running that tape across the tv screen for hours. Once every fifteen minutes is sufficient. The nice thing about my tv and being bored with
your over-play, I can hit the "off" button. As for me, I will continue to rely on the Old Farmers Almanac for weather predictions.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009739004 ---- Russians Brace For The Big Chill ------ Moscow, Russia (AHN) - Russians are bracing for temperatures of as low as minus 55 degrees Celsius (minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit) in Siberia as Russia's emergencies ministry warns on Wednesday of its impending dangers in the coming weeks.

I'm gonna quit my job and become a weather man. why?

1) I can jump around like a skiddy school girl wearing a goffy snow-flake pinned to my jacket.
2) I can play with my super-duper viper-dopler 3-D trippler sweep play station.
3) I can get paid every day not matter if I am right or wrong.
4) I can make up excuses why I am not accurate in a forecast.
5) I can change the way I forecast the weather to pretend I know what I am talking about. Calling the region from Richmond to Elizabeth City the "metro area" and tell what percentage of the area might get wet, instead of the precentage of chance it might do something.

These so called "forecasters" are proofing over and over that they are not capable of guessing the weather. If they can't forecast the immediate weather, why are they claiming to forecast the future weather? I recall them telling us in the 1970's that "global cooling" and we were all going to die. Now it's "global warming" and we're all going to die. These clowns are costing us (especially the US) billions of dollars. I'll make the prediction now that the normal global weather swings will continue as always and in five years they'll be on some other far out scheme to get our tax money for "research". I guess we'd be better off using a "wheel", it couldn't be any worst than local media. The computer models were designed by who? Oh! Meteorologists! so either they don't know how to use their tools or they didn't build a very good tool. Either way it's the meteorologists that are wrong. The one that tickles me the most is the one that claims "neighborhood" weather forecast. Never right!!

Snow???
Watertown , NY has snow.

The food stores did a booming business on bread and milk. The hardware stores sold thousands of snow shovels, batteries, and bags of salt. All thanks to hysteria stirred by the expertise of all these local "meteorologists" and their fancy Vipir/Triple/Quadruple Doppler radars and computer models. And if it had been a school day, we probably would have closed the schools. Bottom line ... nothing much happened. Stand down, everybody!

I'm sorry, but it is not the computer model doing the "guesswork." It is the meteorologists' job to discern which of the very many computer models seems to be the most accurate and on track at any given time. I would really like to see what would happen if there were no meteorologists for the general public (you would have not clue that any snow at all were coming), airlines, energy companies, etc. So, pull out that weather wheel and call up to Delta Airlines and why don't YOU let them know what will happen in 4 days (without looking at any information from intellicast, weather.com, accuweather, or any other media outline). Have fun!

are just that 'reports', channel 3 started running a scroll Friday night to warn everyone that we were gonna have a 'weather watch' starting Saturday afternoon (changed the channel after about 15 mnutes or so, got tired of watching the scroll)..I thought that by Saturday afternoon we would have school closing scroll that goes on forever!!!

Weather guessing is the only job you can have when you are right only 25% or less and still keep your job...

For the people who came from the north and drive in snow all their life, when I was caught in a snow storm in Colorado, every car I saw in the ditch had Colorado license plates, they must not get as much snow as the expert drivers from the northern states...

So the forecast went from 4-6 inches on Friday, 2-4 Sat morning, 1-2 Sat evening, a dusting Sat nite. They sure do know how to forecast here. I should ask the meteorologist for some lottery numbers and play megamillions. Have they not learned to tone it down. They had people in mass frenzy with the talk of a little snow Friday. And being a snow lover I was a bit disappointed, but after living here ten years I knew the likelihood of snow coming was none. John Cash take a look how snow reporting is done in DC and take some tips.

Another threatened snowfall, another big ball of nothing. And now I've got to deal with a 2-year-old who'll be up in a few hours, wanting to know where all the snow is. Somehow, I don't think she'll accept the answer, "Somewhere besides Southside Hampton Roads."

I'm still looking for that 2-4 inches. Maybe this is invisible snow?

If the area is so unappealing to Rob Maz, perhaps he would be better off moving back to Vermont where the men are men and the....well we all know the story. No matter the amount, it is just plain exciting to watch the white stuff fall from the sky. It brings back childhood days where wonder and awe filled every heart at the sight of snow along with the anticipation of sledding, snowmen, hot chocolate and a warm fire. Enjoy it as best we can.

Then the ice cube in my glass is the berg that sank the Titanic...

They may work hard (see below) but they don't get paid enough because they're not right enough. I wish I could be wrong in my job and still get paid for mistakes. I've got a weather wheel too can I play meteorologist?

Every weather event around here is like something that's never ever happened before. Guess they have to do something to get Food Lion to sell out of bread in the hurricane off season. Wooooo....... scary snow is on the way everyone run stock up.

Here in OV - no snow - just rain. But hey that's ok. We need the rain. Coming from the north, I love the snow so maybe the temps will drop enough tonight where I can have a beautiful winter scene.

If you want to drive in this stuff, go slow. But the best way to experience it is to go for a walk. If it was actually snowing and not raining. Nothing like walking through the snow storm and all you hear is the snow falling.

Cat in Ocean View

You know, we get a couple of inches around here pretty much every winter, yet every time it happens, you'd think that no one around here ever saw 4 inches of snow before in their lives. Why is this even an article in the paper?

5:20 and it isn't snowing. Maybe soon... ::crossing my fingers!::

Struck VBWXMAN's senstive nerve did ya!

Flip a coin, NO ONE WILL GET IT RIGHT. The major problem with weather forecasters in this area is that they get TOO detailed in their forecasts. Yesterday one "official" forecast had it for 3"-4" accumulation, today that same forecast 1"-2". Maybe. A better forecast would have been a "chance of snow" instead of trying to be so accurate.

Also, notice that many forecasters refer to "computer models". So it is not a human but a machine doing much of the guesswork. Personally I use the Intellicast wind models for forecasting wind tendencies since I spend alot of time on my boat.

Anyone who has lived in the area a few years and has taken the time to pay attention to and LEARN weather patterns can usually forecast his/her own weather well enough - red skies in the morning or eves, winds increasing from the south with falling barometer, solid high overcast with a north wind, the rainbow ring around the sun formed by high altitude ice crystals.

Live here long enough and you learn real quickly how the local media uses "sensationalism" in reports on snow. Locals all know they are full of crap. A few flurries and the Pilot, Wavy, etc, reports are posting coming disaster and buckets of snow only to maybe get a lite dusting.

Even in Colorado, all the cars in the ditches were 4X4 or AWD SUV's. The law of gross tonnage does NOT protect the drivers of HUGE vehicles with AWD. Ice IS the great equalizer. STAY HOME!!!! You may know (or think you do) how to drive in icy/snow packed conditions...trust me, you DON'T! STAY HOME!!!

As long as everyone but us ex vermonters drive I'll be fine...

Had to laugh.. yeah up north we do drive in snow. Heavily salted and sanded snow that's plowed and scraped constantly - if we must go out. The plows are started and warming up before the first flake falls, unlike down here where it could be (and has been!) sheet ice before we see a plow. We also learn to follow snow plows. We don't drive on ice unless we don't know it's there. No one can drive on ice without chains.

If you wanna pay the deductible, knock yourself out.. drive everywhere. Me being from the north, I've learned to stay home if it snows here. Yeah, I can drive on it, but I don't really wanna get hit by you. :)

Oh, 1 more thing "The last single-digit readings in Hampton Roads were in 1994, when the temperatures at Norfolk International dipped to 9 degrees on Jan. 16 and 5 degrees on Jan. 19. The last temperatures in the teens were last February, when the mercury dropped to 16 on Feb. 6 and to 19 on Feb. 17."

That global warming sure does stink.

vbwxman, I am sure MLK does not mind us sharing his holiday with Jesse JACKSON and Spike LEE. That is where LEE, JACKSON, KING day came from, right??

As for "predicting the weather". I see it as the same thing psychics do, they both speak in generalities so it is open to interpretation. I watched all three news stations this morning and they all said something different. I find the guy on 13 always underestimates potential snowfall (has been since I was in high school) and the guy on channel 3 is the most accurate.I am still waiting for the super duper Centuple doppler super viper radar where they can zoom in on a blade of grass...

If we get lots of snow, the thing to do is get into your car and drive as fast as you can!

Yeah, baby!