SouthBuffaloSteve

Was just insane for a solid 5-10 minutes that hail was crazy! And the rainfall rate was incredible. Flash Flood Warnings are up now. And looks like we still got some more to go. I just reached my hand out the door and snagged these!

The 4th horseman of the apocalypse has arrived!

This lightning is nuts. Can feel the roar starting to build. Yeah the NW to SE is unusual...

One heck of a sunset over the lake tonight...

Yeah just saw a FB alert for snow covered roads in the south towns and saw that radar and traffic cam... Dang! Been coming down here all day at a good clip but nothing sticking. Ugh where’s spring already!

Enough of this already! Had a little thunder when the last batch moved through...

Pretty potent cells taking through the area. Pretty heavy snow and extremely reduced visibility on the 90 near the airport...

Where were these fluff bombs in December... or January... or February... surprised as we are sitting at 36* to see such nice looking flakes falling. Figures marginal temps in April would give us daytime snow while marginal temps in January would give us nighttime mix!

Nice time lapse... https://m.facebook.com/100004057593617/posts/2108506815961218/?d=n

OMG!!! We actually have something weather wise to watch!!!

Mortality rates being published are huge over statements. Testing is simply not available at this point to get an accurate picture of how wide spread this is. In Erie County they are now only testing those with the most severe symptoms, are at higher risk, or have had known contact with a positive person while they were contagious. Of course the mortality rate will be much higher if your only checking the sickest of the sick. I’m also somewhat skeptical of the test itself. As of yesterday Erie County had test result of 206 people with 28 positives and 178 negatives. Considering they are only testing those who are showing all 3 of the key symptoms having a positive test result rate of less than 14% is confusing. Are the tests faulty? Has the virus mutated into something else that is not detectable? Are the tests being wasted on VIPs that aren’t really sick in the first place? Could the other 86% just have an ordinary common cold or respiratory infection? All the unknowns are what makes this scary in my own opinion. It all goes back to the fact that if your in relatively good health you’ll survive this without much issue.

If the virus is really this serious we should have already been placed under full lockdown. Every day they keep waiting we will continue to have uncontrolled community spread. Sure they are reacting but it’s too little too late now. The county health commissioner just said at this point people need to understand that any public place is more likely than not an active transmission site. Working the front lines at the grocery store I’ve already come to terms that I have probably been exposed and likely infected. It still bothers me that the government has not started restrictions in our stores to protect the workers, customers and honestly the food supply itself. Both Tops and Wegmans have implemented social distancing recommendations at the checkouts as well as round the clock cleaning procedures but it’s nothing more than an illusionary effect to make people feel like it’s safe. It’s not! With the massive crowds in every store right now even passing a person in an aisle would not allow for the 6’ rule. Can’t believe everything you read about this but I saw one report that says it can stay in the air for up to 3 hours and remain alive on cardboard surfaces for up to 4 days. Just mind boggling to think of just how many people could be infected by a single sick person inside a grocery store type setting. I saw in Italy weeks ago that the army was actually regulating grocery stores. If you had a fever or cough you were not allowed in. Based on the size of the store only so many were let inside at any one time to allow shoppers to stay distant enough. The workers were dressed in full PPE. Crazy to think it might come to this but if we want to get this over and done with it’s time for a full shutdown.

But the grocery stores remained pack wall to wall again today...

Not trying to be that conspiracy nut guy... but what’s up with all the chem trails over Buffalo this morning? I’ve never seen so many before...

I’m still having trouble comprehending these past few days. It’s like we’re in a movie. We always get these scares and they go away but this time is so much different for some reason. It’s not stopping it just keeps getting crazier every hour. Cities and States are starting to close down everything except grocery stores and pharmacies. Make me nervous as we are going to turn into ground zero for transmission sites soon. In fact just saw LA is even closing down gyms! There is literally going to be no where to go!

Local Wegmans stores are completely wiped out of almost every thing... .

Low blow dude! We are on pace for an all time record sales week! This is bowling post snow ember shopping out of the water. I’ve worked in the store for 19 years NEVER seen anything like the last few days. This weekend is going to be a joke people have officially lost their minds. My staff thought I was nuts when I told them to order an entire trailer or TP last week... I might be one of the last stores in Buffalo with this stuff!

That expert was definitely talking scary stuff. Death rate I expect to drop as testing can hopefully increase. Currently at 3.5% I believe, but 80% of cases show no or only mild symptoms. South Korea which has the most rigorous testing, checking 140,000 in a week only has a rate of 0.6% as their data can capture more of those mild cases in the overall total. Elderly look to be at the highest risk and it’s strange how children are largely spared. Kids under 14 were still testing positive at high rates but it was something crazy like 95% showed no or extremely mild symptoms. I think a lot of us will end up getting this but if your reasonably healthy it should end up being more than a nasty week long cold.

I still don’t know what to really think about this whole virus thing. Numbers wise it still seems to pale in comparison to seasonal flu or the numbers we saw during swine flu. Media is certainly putting a panic tiny on the daily reporting but maybe all these closing and shut downs are what we need to curb the transmissions rates. One thing that worries me is the possibility of area wide school shut downs for an extended time period. Saw today most local college are either extending spring break or moving classes to online only so will grade schools be next? Daycares? This would have a devastating impact to the work force, there would be huge voids in the healthcare field alone that would see workers having to take leaves to care for their kids. Honestly I think this would crush the economy for years. My other bigger worry is our food and drug supply chain was not and will not ever be ready to handle the out of control consumer demand for select items we have seen the past 2 weeks. With all the panic reporting there hasn’t been a lot of talk of this, but running a store I can tell you the situation is likely going to get really bad in the next 2 weeks. First on the drug side there are a lot of concerns for shortages on everyday prescription drugs and also generic antibiotics as a large percent of these are manufactured in China. Between plants being shut down there and the Chinese government stockpiling these drugs now rather than exporting them, there is a possibility some well known and highly used drugs may be unavailable at times. Ok moving onto household items... Hand Sanitizer, Lysol, Clorox products. We were getting out of the cold and flu season so a lot of these manufactures were switching production to other items they produce. The supply chain is dry and even at full capacity now going again the supply will be a drop in the bucket against the demand out there. Hand soaps are going to be the next thing empty. They sat there mostly untouched at first but now are really thinning out. Toilet Paper? This one threw everybody off. Good news is TP is a highly consumable item so production rates can and will be able to catch back up in a few weeks is people stopped freaking out and buying a 6 month supply. Selection will be low but it will be back on store shelves regularly again soon. Water? Not sure why people are stocking up on water. People need to invest in a nice Brita type or similar pitcher or reuse water bottle. Retail life the past 2 weeks has felt like a never ending winter storm watch with full on panic shopping. Every afternoon we are getting killed with people stockpiling. Every day it’s a new hot item on the must have list. What’s next? Canned Meats? Peanut Butter? Rice and Beans? Again if people just bought what they normally needed instead of hoarding and freaking out this would be a lot more manageable.

Neat little feature this morning. Surprised as I have 37* on my thermometer but I’m seeing a fine grainy snow at the moment. Looking at the QEW cams it’s pouring snow across the river.

I’m still not sold on this whole virus scare. So sick of hearing about it everywhere, news, work, every other post on Facebook. Guess we’ll have to really just wait and see if it spreads here and just how bad. The news is just going too crazy with all the hype and over reporting. It’s good to keep us informed but man they just want to see us all panic. Stores are wiped on hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, starting to hoard water, it’s just crazy. Plus it bugs me none of our government officials are doing anything except blaming each other. Would think this is the time for them to work together and put the action plan in place. Makes me wonder if we don’t really have a National contingency plan for a pandemic virus outbreak. While it’s just getting going the numbers still pale in comparison. Last year in just the US (stats are per the CDC website) seasonal influenza infected 35 million (roughy 10%) of the country contracted it. Of that 500,000 required hospital admission and 35,000 then died. So even with a low death rate virus that has a very effective vaccine readily available and administered to a large percent of the population, the seasonal flu still kills 95 people each day in the US. Once this thing gets up to 100 deaths a day here then I’ll get nervous.

Fire up the grill! Looks like a roast!

I’m more of a upper 70s low 80s guy during the day. But agreed. Couple muggy nights with some thunderstorms. Just nice when we can finally get back outside again.