The Blizzard of 2001

Sunday night, New York Mayor Rudy Guliani, along with his school's chancellor, made the decision to close all of New York City's schools because of the forecasted blizzard. The meteorologists were saying we would have blizzard-like conditions with 1 to 2 feet of snow by Monday afternoon. When it didn't materialize, parents and media, were complaining that the schools were closed for no good reason. So on Monday evening, when there was still a possibility that there could be 8-9 inches of snow the next day, the Mayor said that the schools would be open no matter what. He didn't even leave it open to decide some time early Tuesday morning, he made his decision Monday night. And it WAS pretty bad driving on this morning. I am convinced that he reversed himself only because of political pressure. I mean, first he erred on the side of safety - always a good thing when in regards to thousands of schoolkids). He gets static for it, so he blatently reverses his stance - seemingly at the risk of thousands of schoolkids.

As for the meteorologists, I can't believe everyone holds them to such a high standard the rest of the time. I mean, we know its not an exact science. Don't we? Are there really people out there who think that the local weatherman is 100% accurate? That think big fat Al Roker is doing some real science out there? I guess it speaks to how well they do perform, to have so many people holding them to this high standard. There were three elements that were coming together to form this storm. Cold air from Canada, a low pressure system coming up from the Gulf of Mexico, and the jet stream moving up the eastern seaboard. And they only missed by 100 to 150 miles. All these things came together but just a little more northeast. Hartford CT, through Boston, MA got hammered by snow and high winds. I'm sorry, that's pretty good when you're dealing with an inexact science.