Early release Monday?
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Anonymous
| I'm an MCPS teacher and I'm keeping my kids home from school tomorrow. |
Anonymous
Are you taking the day off. Now I’m wondering if half the kids won’t show up |
Anonymous
| Just got the email from them that they’re “watching” what’s going to happen but there is school tomorrow… |
Anonymous
Guess what? Same here. And I knew to make sure we were off the roads, at home, prepared for the potential for power outages from intense storms. There are a ton of resources and a ton of storm watchers online. Again, while the derecho itself was not predicted, the environment was ripe for storms. There were warnings conditions would be dangerous. Were these people posting on Facebook? Probably not. Just because you were not specifically warned, it does not mean that that others were not greatly concerned. NOAA SPC thought the storms would weaken over the Appalachians. Not everyone believed that would happen due to the environmental conditions and the CAPE values. For the storm threat tomorrow, I seriously hope that decisions are not made by the posters who think soccer only needs to move indoors or kids are safer at school while not being concerned at all about conditions after storms have moved through the area. |
Anonymous
| [MCPS] MCPS is monitoring the potential for a strong storm on Monday, (3/16) and will announce any updates concerning operations, including any cancellations of activities or an early dismissal on Monday morning. |
Anonymous
NP. I am seriously considering taking the day. I do not trust MCPS to make the right call. |
Anonymous
What's the "safest route" home for walkers, an imaginary underground tunnel??!! Huh?! |
Anonymous
Can they even get us out of there early enough? If there are late elementary school dismissals, what does the standard 2 1/2 hour early dismissal have for their bus route times? Has MCPS ever done a 3 or 3 1/2 hour early dismissal? |
Anonymous
Funny how in the days after that storm there were widespread news stories about how the area was unprepared because it was so unexpected. This is completely different. But go ahead and rewrite history, some of us experienced it and I can absolutely guarantee that my experience was more dramatic/memorable than yours. |
Anonymous
Well this aged poorly (and quickly) |
Anonymous
No..I don't have enough leave and would never be able to find a sub (and I don't feel like writing sub plans). So I will be at work. My kids will stay with their grandparents (they live 5 min from us, their school, and the school I work at) |
Anonymous
They are so ridiculously incompetent. Their suggestion of having walkers identify safe places along their route home to shelter if weather conditions worsen was absolutely comical. They won't make the right call. Which is why I'm keeping my kids home. |
Anonymous
Hm, well Chat-GPT has it correct for once: The June 29, 2012 Mid-Atlantic derecho was not widely predicted in advance at the scale or intensity it ultimately reached. Meteorologists recognized severe thunderstorms were possible that day, but the emergence of a long-lived, extremely destructive derecho sweeping into the Washington, D.C. region took both forecasters and the public largely by surprise until only hours beforehand. Below is a more precise breakdown of what was and wasn’t anticipated. 1. More than a day in advance: little indication of a historic event Forecast models and outlooks the day before and early on June 29 did not clearly signal a major derecho heading toward the Mid-Atlantic. Operational forecast models such as the NAM and GFS gave little guidance more than ~24 hours ahead that a long-lived severe windstorm would occur. On the morning of June 29, the main story in the Washington area was expected to be extreme heat, not a destructive storm system. Forecast discussions expected scattered thunderstorms later in the day, but there was no obvious large-scale weather feature (like a strong cold front) that would normally signal a widespread severe event. As a result, the storm was not anticipated as a major regional wind disaster a day or more beforehand. 2. Same day (morning to early afternoon): hints begin to appear On the morning of June 29, some high-resolution convection-allowing models started suggesting that a strong thunderstorm complex could form and track east. However: These signals appeared only hours before the event developed. Derechos are notoriously hard to forecast because they often form from small-scale atmospheric disturbances that models struggle to resolve far in advance. So forecasters had increasing concern, but the eventual scale and longevity were still uncertain. 3. Afternoon and evening: warnings as the storm approached Once the storm complex formed in the Midwest and began producing damaging winds, meteorologists tracked it and warnings were issued with good lead time: The Storm Prediction Center issued severe thunderstorm watches a few hours in advance of the derecho reaching new areas. Local National Weather Service offices issued numerous severe thunderstorm warnings, with average lead times around 30–37 minutes ahead of the worst winds. So while long-range prediction was poor, short-term warning performance during the event was considered good. 4. Why it was hard to predict Several meteorological factors contributed to the forecasting difficulty: The event was a warm-season derecho, which often forms from subtle atmospheric triggers. The storm was fueled by extreme heat and humidity (Washington reached 104°F that day), creating enormous atmospheric instability. The system rapidly organized and maintained strength for about 700 miles in ~12 hours, which is unusual and difficult to anticipate. ✅ Overall assessment (from meteorological reviews): Long-range forecast (24+ hours): Poor — the magnitude and reach were not predicted. Same-day outlooks: Increasing concern but still uncertain. Short-term warnings (within hours): Good — people received warnings shortly before the storm arrived. A common summary from the post-storm analysis was that the event was “poorly forecast in advance, but warnings were excellent once it developed.” ✔️ Bottom line: The population and many meteorologists were surprised by the intensity and regional impact, though operational warnings did give people tens of minutes of notice once the storm line was approaching. |
Anonymous
| Honestly I would prefer them to close. I don't want to be caught in the middle of a storm trying to rush from work to get my kids. |
Anonymous
+1 |