The weather hysteria in Houston is hilarious to watch. Yet another false alarm. People here enjoy getting worked up over weather.
You realize it's the NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE who issues warnings and watches, right? Houston doesn't invest in heavy equipment to assist in dealing with ice on the roads. Because it's so infrequent, it's a poor investment. Because it's so infrequent, it's a bit exciting when we consider the idea of an ice or snow event. We're under an ice storm warning from 6 pm to 9 am tomorrow. This helps employers make decisions about hours of operation. It helps schools make decisions on whether to put a bunch of elementary school kids in a school bus on an icy road. This isn't hysteria unless you let it be. It looks like good information about an event that everyone in the city is affected by to me.
I've lived here 20+ years and there have been more false alarms about weather than I could hope to remember. While every now and then something actually happens, it just seems like folks here relish the drama. I know where the warnings come from.
i've lived here 20+ years as well. we're under an ice storm warning tonight. not just a winter storm watch. it's certainly news-worthy. i don't see much drama...just a bunch of kids (including those over 18) hoping that school/work is out. i felt a twinge of disappointment this morning, because i'd hoped to stay home with my sons and goof off.
My dumbass should havve stayed home today. About half the people up here aren't here, but my boss surely came in which makes leaving early an impossibility. To those of you at home, is there a chance that this storm might come through later in the day?
Not much of a chance. Temps supposed to be in the mid-30's all day until tonight when it's supposed to drop below freezing. They're saying 60% chance of freezing rain in Houston overnight. Yeah, no one is here, either. Parking garage is nearly empty. Freeways are running fast.
Bad news is I am at work. Worse news is that I have school tonight downtown until 9:30 pm. What if the storm hits in the meantime? I'm screwed.
See, this is why I'd choose caution if I were the one making this decision. If there's a freaking 60% chance of freezing precip, I'm cancelling ahead of time. You can always make up days.
no...it's just more likely we'll have precip overnight. we missed 2 bands of overnight/morning precipitation. they passed to the north and south of us. had either hit us, we would have had ice on the roads this morning. the weather service apparently thinks we have a better chance of that happening overnight tonight and into tomorrow morning...we were only under a winter storm WATCH yesterday...tonight we're under an ice storm WARNING.
Thanks for the info. I decided not to go to Austin today. I didn't want to take a chance of getting up there and road conditions possibly being bad (or run into bad conditions on the way up there or way back).
my best guess is that if we have overnight ice, classes will start late tomorrow. with temps headed toward the 40's, i imagine they'll just tell everyone to stay in until 10 am or so.
(Not so) BREAKING NEWS UH will remain open for evening classes Tuesday, Jan. 16, as scheduled. A decision regarding Wednesday's status will be posted on the UH web site - uh.edu - early Wednesday morning and the campus community will be informed via e-mail.
Anyone have guesses for UT on Wednesday? Seems like it's supposed to be the same as it was today and not get above freezing till Thursday...
Austin Community College has already cancelled tomorrow. I'd bet UT isn't too far behind. It's supposed to be more of the same and the number of accidents yesterday probably has people thinking twice about holding class tomorrow.
