Sunday, January 5, 2014

Not That bad

Sometimes we get beyond frustrated with the meteorologists and the news media. This frustration boils over with our guests too.  We heard countless comments of frustration about the weather people and media at our ticket windows this weekend.  This weekend was a perfect example of why.  We acknowledge that the forecast appears to be very cold, with potentially dangerous wind chills and conditions if one is unprepared.  When the forecasters miss on the temperatures by 10+ degrees like they did both Saturday and today, this keeps 1000's of skiers and snowboarders home.  The forecast for yesterday (and they began forecasting...a.k.a dart throwing about a week ago) was cloudy, very cold, windy, dramatically falling temps. throughout the day, blowing and drifting snow etc.  The temperature reached 30 degrees around midnight but did not drop through the day nearly as much as they said it would.  In fact, it was full sun, blue skies, very light winds, and about 20 degrees still at mid-afternoon.  Add those weather conditions to our excellent snow conditions and it was a great day.  A visiting ski group from Chicago thought the skiing all weekend was fantastic.  But thanks to the ratings seeking media and meteorologists, the damage was done and people were successfully scared into staying indoors and away from MN outdoor recreational businesses.  Today, the forecasters said that this "Historic, and Life-Threatening Artic Blast" would begin it's real invasion.  The forecast reminded me of some science-fiction, apocalyptic movie about the end of the world.  Today's forecast called for a very windy, very cold high of -10.  As I am writing this blog entry, it's 0 degrees at Welch Village with an 8 mph wind, full sun with blue skies.  Again, for those who came today and were prepared for the weather, they were treated to a fine day for skiing and riding with excellent snow conditions...and no lift lines.  I realize that meteorologists and local news media probably feel some obligation to communicate this kind of weather in a manner that warns the public and keeps them safe.  However, I believe they forecast and present the weather news today in a certain way to cause concern and sometimes fear in their viewers...and this then causes higher viewership and ratings for their station.

Thank you to all of who spent the weekend here and thank you to our staff, especially our lift-operators and ski patrols who spent the weekend outside and lived to tell about it!  We are closing today at 4pm and reopening at noon on Tuesday.  We are closing mostly because it does appear to be very cold tonight and Monday.  However, we are also closing because people are probably too scared to ski & ride based on what they've heard.   Good news is, the weather pattern looks like it begins to change later this week.  There is still a whole lot of winter to enjoy this year!







 

1 comment:

  1. You think the local media were exaggerating??? We were there on Saturday and while the snow was fantastic, the wind was far stronger than "very light" and temps were in the low to mid teens around 1:00.

    Attacking the entire news media with tinfoil hat conspiracy theories is not the sort of positive message/experience I have come to expect from Welch Village.

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