Snow Day for JCPS!!!!!

For the record...on a day to day basis, I'll still take the forecast from the good ol' National Weather Service staffed by loyal civil servants ANYDAY over the breathless cries of pending doom and disaster from those jack wagons on local TV. (Once again...Just sayin').

*nods* There is a blogging pair of local meteorologists who, while I'm certain they are very nice individuals, drive me absolutely up the crazy tree with their incessant enthusiasm for Louisville to truly have another Snowmageddon ala 1994 or 1978. While it is one thing to like snow, to wish the city to come to a standstill for a week is pure foolishness, imo.

And heaven forbid if one posts an opinion on said blog that maybe we don't want 16 inches of snow, a couple inches of ice, and 25 below zero temperatures. When we had that mini-ice storm recently, those guys were practically having an "organic" experience all the while I'm petrified about being without power for 6 days. I got called a troll for pointing out that massive amounts of snow and ice are not necessarily a good thing.

I call what they practice "tabloid meteorology."

*nods* There is a blogging pair of local meteorologists who, while I'm certain they are very nice individuals, drive me absolutely up the crazy tree with their incessant enthusiasm for Louisville to truly have another Snowmageddon ala 1994 or 1978. While it is one thing to like snow, to wish the city to come to a standstill for a week is pure foolishness, imo.

Terri,

Would you drop me a PM with the URL for their website. I seem to have a couple of openings on my schedule this week and it might be entertaining to jack with these two knuckleheads a bit.

*nods* There is a blogging pair of local meteorologists who, while I'm certain they are very nice individuals, drive me absolutely up the crazy tree with their incessant enthusiasm for Louisville to truly have another Snowmageddon ala 1994 or 1978. While it is one thing to like snow, to wish the city to come to a standstill for a week is pure foolishness, imo.

Of course it's not quite as bad as when they chase storm clouds that might become a tornado with their helicopters! All television programs are interrupted until they fly all the way to Cincinnati chasing a storm.

[Robin Garr]

See you folks in the USD complain about pay extra taxes

No, we don't.

but you get extra service!

That's why we don't complain!

LaGrange road, Shelbyville road, etc. certainly weren't out our way!

Mark, a lot of us thought that city-county merger should have been merger. One government, one vote, one tax, one set of services, no little cities. But a lot of voters wouldn't have gone along with that, so we got a sort-of merged government where nothing changed much for city dwellers or suburbanites, in terms of taxes or services.

[Robin Garr]

Would you drop me a PM with the URL for their website. I seem to have a couple of openings on my schedule this week and it might be entertaining to jack with these two knuckleheads a bit.

This one ought to get your motor running ...

http://blogs.wave3.com/weather_blog/

This one ought to get your motor running ...http://blogs.wave3.com/weather_blog/

You read my mind, Robin!

[Robin Garr]

You read my mind, Robin!

Those bozos actually go "BAD NEWS!" when they realize that we're NOT getting snow!

LaGrange road, Shelbyville road, etc. certainly weren't out our way!

Mark, a lot of us thought that city-county merger should have been merger. One government, one vote, one tax, one set of services, no little cities. But a lot of voters wouldn't have gone along with that, so we got a sort-of merged government where nothing changed much for city dwellers or suburbanites, in terms of taxes or services.

Those two roads I mentioned used to be done by the state. Remember last year the state subcontracted metro Louisville to do that work for them and is giving Louisville quite a bit of money to do it. Obviously something got lost in the translation from state to local snow removal on these roads. They used to be done quite well.

I like Kevin and Brian's passion for the weather. They get excited about snow because they are passionate about the weather. They love what they do -- I love that. I don't think anyone is saying that a catastrophic ice storm is a good thing, the two of them included. But a little bit of snow isn't necessarily a bad thing either. Perhaps we should address WHY this city feels the need to "shut down" when a few flakes fall. If this is becoming a recurring problem, perhaps it is time to investigate purchasing some more or better snow removal equipment. It's amazing the difference you see when you cross from IN to KY, even on the interstates, after a big snow. If Southern Indiana has it, Kentucky should too, IMO. Kevin and Brian aren't making it snow...

I like Kevin and Brian's passion for the weather. They get excited about snow because they are passionate about the weather. They love what they do -- I love that. I don't think anyone is saying that a catastrophic ice storm is a good thing, the two of them included. But a little bit of snow isn't necessarily a bad thing either. Perhaps we should address WHY this city feels the need to "shut down" when a few flakes fall. If this is becoming a recurring problem, perhaps it is time to investigate purchasing some more or better snow removal equipment. It's amazing the difference you see when you cross from IN to KY, even on the interstates, after a big snow. If Southern Indiana has it, Kentucky should too, IMO. Kevin and Brian aren't making it snow...

I think the conversation already covered this, but if there are X amount of dollars available, and, as a city, were are already spending more than X, what are you cutting from the budget to cover your snow removal equipment? Or are you in favor of higher taxes? Those are your two options. Cut something to cover the cost or tax more to cover the cost. And snow plows ain't cheap. And for additional snow plows to actually matter, we ain't going to need "a" snow plow. We gonna need more than a handful of plows. And then there are man/woman hours. Those ain't free either.

And, I think it was Robin who said this, if the "recurring problem" only recurs a few times each year, is the purchasing of these additional snowplows - at great cost - actually worth it in terms of budget cuts and/or new taxes?

Seeing as you are from Indiana, none of this applies to you. I bet the Indiana highways are better because, as a state, Indiana is more prepared (and more budgeted) for snow removal. A simple look at a weather almanac or a globe will tell you why.

And, while I'm going, let's point out the obvious. If the city had treated the streets and no snow fell, people would be bitching about wasted money on supplies and man hours or, worse, how the treatment product was making their cars dirty and chipping their cars' paint.

Those of us who have been in Louisville since the early 1990s, will remember those days. Following UPS's near withdrawal from the city in the aftermath of the "big snow," the city went a little overboard there for a few years, dumping inches of product on the roads merely at the mention of "possible snow flurries."

Seeing as you are from Indiana, none of this applies to you. I bet the Indiana highways are better because, as a state, Indiana is more prepared (and more budgeted) for snow removal. A simple look at a weather almanac or a globe will tell you why.

That was exactly my point. If Southern Indiana, or the state of Indiana, can budget for it, why can't Kentucky? Or are we getting magical dollars that fall from the sky along with the snow?

We get snow here when Louisville gets snow, and vice versa, much of the time. (Actually yesterday we had barely anything and Louisville had more.) If it happens a few times a year, then I say it's a recurring problem. It seems like people don't expect it to snow at all from season to season. Our weather is getting wilder and wilder each year, and we get more of these big snow and ice events each year. That's all I'm saying -- it seems to be becoming a problem, so yes, even though no one likes paying more, maybe it would balance out in the end by lessening everyone's headache when schools are closed and people can't get to work.

[Robin Garr]

Our weather is getting wilder and wilder each year

Not to be argumentative, Kari, but just for the fun of talking about the weather - as Antonia and I were discussing above, the back-to-back winters of 1977 and 1978 saw the Ohio River freeze from bank to bank, a winter so cold that the officials warned *everyone* to leave a little stream of water running all night so our pipes wouldn't freeze, and, the next year, 50-plus inches of snow, including a 16-inch blizzard followed by a major ice storm with thunder-snow, schools out for 30 days, and snow that stayed on the ground until March.

And at that time, old-timers said it was the worse they had seen since the winters of 1917-18, when the Ohio also froze all the way across.

Wilder and wilder? Maybe. I'm concerned about chaotic global climate change, too. But one thing about Louisville weather, no matter how bad it gets, we can usually look back in the records and find something even worse.