Those predictions of up to two feet of snow from the #Blizzardof2015 were off, by a lot in some parts. As of 7amET, 7.8 inches of snow has fallen in Central Park. LaGuardia Airport measured 11 inches, while Mattituck, on the eastern end of Long Island, did get that 2 feet, 24.8 inches according to a trained spotter. And the storm is still stirring things up in New England.
But for New York City, home to the broadcast and cable news networks, the forecast of a “historic” storm — leading to a travel ban and shut-down of subway and commuter train service — did not arrive as predicted.
CNN meteorolgoist Chad Meyers used a car analogy to explain why.
“It’s like test driving a brand-new car,” Meyers said on CNN this morning. The Weather Service has launched the new multi-million dollar GFS Model, to compete with the European model. “This model did well,” Meyers says. “We just didn’t know to trust it yet because it’s like the first time you take the car out for a spin, you don’t want to step on the gas too hard.”
“The first model, the new one, is about 8 to 12. That’s what we got. We didn’t get the 24, that’s how this storm got misforecast.”