For the southern half of Pennsylvania, February was an exceptional month as far as snowfall was concerned. Not just here in the Alleghenies, but also eastward to Harrisburg and Philly.
Here’s a look at our unofficial snow totals from last month:
Spring begins in less than 3 weeks! And meteorological winter is over as of today!
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I’m very curious as to why…why…WHY…do the weather reporters (I struggle to say meteorologist) have to ALWAYS report the winter weather with such an emphasis on scaring the masses with POTENTIAL snowstorms. 10 days out from a prospective storm and your newscasts are always the same: “There’s a storm that we’re keeping our eye on…could majorly impact the area…” You don’t know what the weather is going to do 3 days from now, much less 10 days from now. You send people into panic mode for the rush of toilet paper, milk, and bread because A STORM IS COMING…10 days from now…maybe. You are more wish-casters than weatherforecasters. The actual Accuweather.com website, NOAA, and Weather.com will list weather and their meteorologists will discuss systems and weather patterns that totally contradict what you guys go out and report. Said sources will report a 3-6″ snowfall for Johnstown and yet you guys somehow conjure up 12-18″ out of that. Really? Where do you get your information? Outside of this winter, which has been a typical winter for the northeast in terms of snow and overall winter conditions, in the last 5 years you guys at WJAC-TV have called numerous storms that panned out to be great big NOTHING’s! Your snowfall totals aren’t even truly representative of reality, either. Johnstown incompasses a larger area: Richland, Westmont, Morrellville, just to name a few. But the snowfall amounts in Oakhurst are not the same as Richland, or on top of Prospect Mountain in East Taylor Township. So you are reporting that all of Johnstown has receive amounts of 77″…when in reality, the valley areas haven’t received near that much. Come on, guys…get your heads out of the snow and look at reality. Be real meteorologists and not celebrity weather reporters. WJAC-TV shouldn’t be getting ratings by people rushing to Channel 6 to find out how much it’s going to snow with the big storm that’s coming 15 days from now…just ’cause Big Jim Burton said would be so!
Marti, you’re entitled to your opinion, but please realize some things:
1. We do not forecast storms 10 days from now. We have a 7-day forecast.
2. It is our job to let people know if there is the ‘potential’ for a storm to come. People can go into panic mode if they want, but we don’t tell them to go into panic mode.
3. You cannot judge based on events from years ago when this year’s have been accurate. That’s not fair. Even still, I don’t believe that your statement about ‘nothings’ is correct. Either way, let’s focus on the here and now. Forecasting improves through time.
4. Our snow totals are based on areas where we can get information. We get that information from the Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Richland Township. I wish I had reporting stations in Westmont, downtown Johnstown, Morrellville, Oakhurst, etc. I don’t!
5. You state that this has been a typical winter in the northeast. FALSE! This has been anything but typical. We’ve set records all across the region. 7 Springs has had 233 inches of snow. That’s a record. February’s snow totals were record-setting. Both October and December were the snowiest months EVER in the United States.
I’m sorry you feel the way you do, but I think you’re out of line. We don’t come to your place of work and attack you. We do our job and talk about the next 7 days worth of weather. We tell you that there’s a possibility of a storm 6 or 7 days out and say we’ll need to fine-tune the forecast. Would you rather us tell you it’s going to be sunny and 70° when in reality it’s going to snow 14″. Probably not.
Have a fantastic Monday!
I’d like to chime in here as well…..
The part about spreading panic is what I don’t understand. Predicting amounts of snow should not worry anybody. It’s not the 1930′s. We have snow removal equipment now-a-days that can handle feet of snow. Case in point, we picked up 2 feet of snow in 12 hours on February 5 and 6. By the afternoon of the 6th, major roads were clear. So to run out and stockpile groceries is really quite silly.
Our forecasts since 2003 have gotten better each year. I can account for that because I’ve been here since then. It’s extremely rare that you’ll see a forecast for sunny skies and warm temperatures and end up having a cool day with rain. (That happened quite often I heard in the 80s and early 90s.)
And by the way, 77″ of snow is going to be a solid amount in the Greater Johnstown area. I live near the valley floor and measured 74″ for the month. Winter weather forecasting should be presented in a different manner than fair weather forecasts. It impacts travel much more so than a sunny day.
Thanks for watching!
To Tim Tender:
I don’t think you can accurately comment on the weather as far as reliability over the last few years as you did in fairness. Let’s look back at the last 5 years when winters have been very much out of the norm. Temperatures and snowfall were well below normal for that stretch of time; however, during this timeframe, the weather bugs (I’ll be a little nicer this time) at WJAC-TV forecasted storm after storm that just never panned out. Yeah, I’ll give it to you that weather forecasting is not an exact science and has improved over the years, but let’s face it…nothing gathers more attention (and dare I say viewers) than putting the word out that BIG SNOWS are coming when no other weather sources (NOAA, The Weather Channel, and other LOCAL stations) are jumping on the band wagon. So yes…WJAC-TV has the tendency to over-exaggerate the weather. If that’s what you call your job, good luck with that! The other thing, you misunderstood my comment about this winter being normal. Again, the reference was to the fact that this winter was more of what winter should be/has been for the area…with the exception of the last five years or so. Then there is the reporting that drips of over-exaggerations of how the weather is always “the best,” “the worst,” “the snowiest,” “the stormiest,” “the dryest”…one could go on and on. Fact is, nothing makes the people of Johnstown happier than to hear that whatever is happening in Johnstown is somehow worse (or better, or whatever the case may be) than anywhere else. Is it ANY wonder why people who want REAL news (and REAL weather) turn to the Pittsburgh stations (and other reliable weather sources) for their information??? You guys are all small potatoes and have nothing better to offer people than hokey weather you have to dramatize. As for your roads being cleared after the “big snows,” what a joke! People didn’t see main roads cleared for weeks with the incompetence in Johnstown city management. Bottom line…folks in Johnstown live in their own sad, self-created pothole of a town! You’re all pathetic!
Hey Marti,
The last 5 years have been relatively quiet, but I don’t think that our forecasting has been off. We may have made a bad call or so, but anytime we have done it, others have been on board as well (i.e. NWS, Weather Channel, other local stations — with maybe one or two exceptions in the last 5 years). The problem with those exceptions is that people keep those in their minds.
As far as comments ‘dripping with over-exaggeration’… I’d like to know how else to express that this has been a record snow year other than to say ‘the snowiest’ or ‘the stormiest.’ If it’s a record-breaking year, why not say that?
If you want to watch the Pittsburgh stations, feel free. I do all the time because I’m from Pittsburgh. I can tell you that you won’t get any local news and the weather that you’ll get will not focus on this area. I’ve seen their snow maps say call for 6+ inches for an area from DuBois to State College to Altoona and Bedford to Johnstown and Somerset. They do not take the mountains and valleys into account. We do. While we appreciate having you as a viewer, you are free to watch something else.
I do appreciate the fact that you somehow made it to the blog for weather information and, apparently, keep coming back. We’re obviously serving your weather needs here with reliable information. So, I thank you for that.
Have a great weekend and thanks for the banter.