jburns

Have you ever wondered why Patrick County for years was the first county to call off school at the first hint of winter weather? The reason dates back to the late 70s. I was teaching in Floyd County VA at the time. Patrick County Schools had a brand spanking new Superintendent. Evidently he was one of those guys who knows it all and isn’t particularly open to advice. He was down in Stewart of course at the low end of the county when a marginal winter storm came through. It was rain in Stewart but a few miles up the mountain a raging ice storm was ongoing. When his people called him in the early AM to tell him school needed to be cancelled he told then they must be crazy because he had just come in from checking the weather and all it was doing was raining. They tried to tell him what was going on up on the mountain but he would not be swayed, so off the buses went. Over 20 buses ended up off the side of the roads in various places. It was pure luck that no one was injured or worse. The roads up on the mountain were so slippery that many of the parents who went out with their four wheel drive vehicles to rescue their kids also ended up in ditches. The next school board meeting made local TV News because the Superintendent was almost lynched by angry parents. For years afterward if there was even a mention of possible winter weather you could expect to see...PATRICK COUNtY SCHOOLS CLOSED FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS....do the slow crawl across the bottom of your TV screen.

The discussions are driven by where folks live. This is a Carolinas heavy forum member wise so the discussion is Carolina centric. I agree that the geographic area of the SE forum is too large. The distance from Greensboro, NC to Miami, FL is only about 15 miles less than the distance from Greensboro, NC to Portland, ME.

Nope sorry. Lol. Being an old fart I developed cataracts a few years ago. I had surgery to replace my lenses. It was the best thing I ever did. Actual surgery takes 8 minutes per eye. They do them a week apart. I never even felt any discomfort. After over 50 years of wearing glasses I suddenly had 20/20 in both eyes. I couldn’t believe how good the world looked. I have good insurance but the actual cost of the surgeries was quite a bit less than the cost of fifty years of eye exams and glasses. Had I known, I would have had it done years earlier.

Yep. Your doctor messed up your Lasik surgery.

So Grayman goes 20 miles north to se a flake and you go 4 miles. You both could have saved a lot of time and just stood on your front yards with a good pair of binoculars. Lol

Days getting longer and Greensboro temps have hit their seasonal low average and are starting to climb. 14 Jan 47.9 29.2 15 Jan 48.0 29.3 Tick tock.

Close. ”ballbuster pattern”

Tick Tock The days are getting longer. The sun is getting stronger. Tick Tock

I just pinned it.

That’s a biggie. Active birds at the feeders have an almost 100 percent correlation. Fat birds in the spring.

Yep, and before you say something, yes we do have indoor toilets.

And five minutes after I post that they issue a warning. Now I have to take my snow shovel into the bathroom. I hate that.

You have to love where I live right on the county line. If I sit in my den I’m under a winter storm warning but when I go to the bathroom not even a watch.

Raleigh is conservative because that results in the highest number of correct forecasts in our area. Can’t blame them. It is the occasional big snow that finds them scrambling to catch up. In the several heavy snow events in my almost fifty years of living here the conversation goes like this. Forecast: A trace to an inch of snow. Me: We have 3“ so far. Wife: Raleigh just upped the storm totals to 1-2”. 2 hours a later Me: I just measured 4” Wife” Raleigh has upped the storm total to 1-3” 4 hours later Me: I just measured 8”. Wife: Raleigh has upped the storm totals tp 2-4” with isolated areas up to 6”. Rinse and repeat depending on just how big the storm is. Got 20” in 2004.

You guys really tickle me sometimes. You can argue over a difference of 1 mph wind or 1 millibar of pressure in a hurricane but somehow still haven’t figured out the different geographic regions of the state in which you live. As you read the above posts notice that two different things are being talked about and that causes the confusion. Some of you were talking about regions of the state and some sections of the Piedmont. NW NC is not the same as the NW Piedmont. We have to get geography back in the schools!!

I don’t doubt it since I just picked a year out of thin air.

Yeah, we could have something that rivals the great virga blizzard of 02.

Studies have shown that the verification score of a blind squirrel are significantly better than Christmas magic.

No mention of my spot on call? You are a strict grader. I may have to drop the class.

Not early at all. While you were eyeballing it did you happen to look at the date? I like consistency.

Realism usually easily trumps magic. But I’m old so what do I know.

Snow rate always wins.

That wasn’t even the biggest upset of the week. The Jets beat the Rams. The Jets. That probably used up most of the Christmas magic all by itself. I knew one of the Bengal players when he was just a wee lad. His father was on the staff of my Middle School. His dad is a great guy, college coach now, and so is his son. Good addition for the Bengals this year. Linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither.

Yep. A few flakes are possible but that’s about it.