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Personal responses to Irma (and others)

MattW

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I don't want to clutter the main Irma thread with extra talk.
But as I'm basically the weather guy in my various communities, I've been getting asked a lot about this thing's effects, particularly here in Atlanta. I feel like I'm in almost a no-win scenario, on the one hand, the Euro just had a forecast for 80mph gusts in Atlanta...that's a distinct possibility. On the other, we may just get light showers. Some of these folks I might see again Sunday, and some others on Wednesday, but that's it. I'm trying to emphasize that everything's unknown, that the 80mph gust map is just one possibility four and a half days out. But...I don't know. I'm half ranting, half venting, half wrung out, half...something else I can't even describe. I feel this same apprehension when severe weather threatens. I'm frankly scared of blowing the forecast in either direction.

This past April when we had that high risk system threatening Atlanta on April 5th, I warned my church group (most of the same people I'm talking about) to stay safe and be prepared, and we cancelled our weekly meeting as a result. Then it busted, at least for Atlanta for that evening.

How do the rest of y'all handle it? Those of you that make know that you're knowledgeable in weather, what do y'all do about people asking you about potentially dangerous situations in your area?

P.S. I thought about putting this in the Tropical Forum, but wasn't sure if that was proper.
 

Lori

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I use disclaimers a lot of times, as in, I'm the messenger, it's not a perfected science and I've backed of my personal opinion and just share mets forecasts. I encourage everyone to use their own weather sources for watches and warnings, not depend on my passing along the information. If you are the only source people are using, you're setting yourself up for too much responsibility and criticism. Unless you're an experienced met and work in the wx field, don't let yourself be the final word!!


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