Comments on: Jim Cowan Gets On Twitter – and He's Not Happy

By: I’ve been a bad, bad blogger… « Who is a journalist?

I’ve been a bad, bad blogger… « Who is a journalist? — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:20:30 +0000

[...] forecasts had on local businesses (the first post, of which there were several follow ups, here) and how much traffic that created for the site. (Oddly enough, to be fair on links here, [...]

By: Keith

Keith — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:55:26 +0000

A good general rule of thumb that works for me is to assume the actual amount of snow OKC will receive is inversely proportionate to the amount of time away from the predicted snow event by approximately 3 inches for every half hour.

By: Mike Morgan

Mike Morgan — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:29:15 +0000

Hello, Mike Morgan here,

This is for Slackmeyer.

Steve, Please post my recent email to you here on this site, and in the “Oklahoman” too.

I see above, in the second comment, you question my character and qualifications. I find that highly offensive.

I am not going to begin to defend my qualifications here, but I sure as h*** will defend my character.
I offer both defenses to you, and you can post them.

With all that is going on in this world, you need to attack (and yes, it is definitely an attack) somebody else.

I work right next door to the “Oklahoman” and am making myself available.

Standing by,

Mike Morgan

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:36:29 +0000

Shane – ditto on living up to the hype. I love snowstorms.

By: Shane

Shane — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:20:25 +0000

True- postponement was for the best in our case, but still.. I was hoping it would at least live up to the hype.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:23:17 +0000

I have one other comment: I was watching Rick Mitchell for a winter storm early this year or last winter, and he was talking it up really big. The rain was supposed to change over to snow all day long, and it never did. We went to bed that night with him telling us that it was going to change over to snow any time and we would wake up to at least a few inches of snow on the ground. Well, when I woke, there was nothing. Later that day when he was on tv again, he said something like “we told you the winter storm was going to do exactly this” (meaning no snow). I about fell out of my chair laughing.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:22:56 +0000

Not trying to be Debbie Downer, but, even being from Michigan, today’s cold (wind chill of 16 as of 10:52 am), is not appropriate for sending students out into neighborhoods to do service. There is a real risk of frostbite with those temps.

Canceling indoor events was definitely excessive this weekend, but canceling outdoor events was sensible, not for snow/ice, but for cold.

By: Shane

Shane — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:50:40 +0000

OU was forced to postpone an event that would have sent 5,000 student volunteers to 140 jobsites across the metro today. We spent yesterday getting over the fact that something we planned for 6 months wouldn’t happen how we wanted it to, and making sure that a new date would work for 140 community organizations and neighborhood associations. All because the weathermen were causing mass panic in the metro (for fun, for ratings, because they wish it would be true?), and the whole time if you checked weather.com predictions were vastly less dramatic. I mean, did no one see that there was going to be a low pressure zone moving over the metro causing the snowstorm to steer around us? I think the radar-doohickey shows that stuff.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:35:56 +0000

I quit watching Mike Morgan a few years ago for winter weather. I figured out a pattern for him– he was always predicting much more than we actually got. His tornado coverage I think is pretty good, though, or at least he has good spotters out in the field filming.

I’ll watch Rick Mitchell on occasion, and his forecasts seem to be a little more accurate than Mike Morgan. But, even when it is a forecast of normal, 70s, no wind, no chance of rain, etc. his voice is so dramatic. It gets annoying.

I tend to watch Gary England the most. He’s the least dramatic, and his forecasts are the closest to accurate. He, like the others, forecasted a little high on this one (though his wasn’t as bad), but I have found the last couple of years he tends to predict slightly less than the others– and he is most often right.

Lastly, I wish Channel 4 could still broadcast in HD when they show a map/closings. All the other channels can– why can’t they??

By: Braden

Braden — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:19:16 +0000

Now, back to add something official to this discussion. I can understand what Jim Cowan may be hinting at. The simple fact that a majority of people heeded weather forecaster(s) warnings and went out to spend their money on groceries, when looking at our dire straits situation this Saturday AM, the roads are only w-e-t.

That money could have been spent elsewhere. Not that it was going to be spent, but I think this might be what Jim was referring to. Now, people will just put their money where their mouth is and crunch down all their WINTER STORM ’09 provisions & in effect ruin the ‘OKC Million’ plan that Mick Cornett has for us citizens! Talk about a waste of money.

Today’s winds and temps are nothing to be concerned about. We’ve had worse days this past winter and nothing ever shut down because it was cold.