Your Thoughts Please
SEEKING PUBLIC INPUT TO EVALUATE FORECAST AND
MODEL METHODOLOGY FOR THE JANUARY 26-27 WINTER STORM,
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A screen capture of the publicly available Surface Map Projection for 7 AM Monday morning
which is prepared at NOAA by a blend of forecast data and adjustment by Meteorologists.
The dark blue areas projected "Snow Likely" for a large portion of the Mid-Atlantic.
So what went wrong?
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12:57 PM EST 1/27 - REQUEST FOR INPUT & EVALUATIVE COMMENTS ON STORM
Please read the following statement from a media outlet, and then guess what year it was written. Then click on the link at end to find out.
"Friday and Saturday A model designed to forecast coastal weather predicts that a storm from the Great Lakes will merge with the Atlantic low-pressure system off the coasts of Delaware and New Jersey. The model projects the storm will stall and dump as much as 28 inches of snow on New York City. Forecasters, including the National Weather Service, AccuWeather and local TV and radio meteorologists, warn of a blizzard in the city."
This open discussion is designed for readers to provide constructive, thoughtful and respectful input on the unfortunate and disappointing outcome of the latest winter storm. Despite delivering some snow to the DC & Baltimore regions, left the Philadelphia and New York City metropolitan areas wondering what happened to all the snow that was forecasted. Our team has made forecasting mistakes before, and admitted to them, so we understand the difficult position this outcome places our colleagues in at the National Weather Service and other organizations.
This opportunity to evaluate the situation is not inviting everyone to a "sack the quarterback pile on" or to "ready the firing squad" while the storm is still raging. Those who are unable to present their concerns in a civil manner will be removed from the comment board without any warning. You are completely welcome to disagree with the forecast and the forecasters, as long as you remember they are people like you, and there is no one on this planet who is perfect, myself included.
We and other outlets will most certainly take your statements into consideration for future storm procedures, as lessons learned, and apply as soon as we can. It appears the first chance to do so comes this weekend. With your help, the weather forecasting industry, public and private, will learn from this experience and ultimately improve the quality of service delivery to you, the readers.
Mr. Foot, CEO & Founder
on behalf of the U.S. Team of Foot's Forecast LLC