Final Blog Post - I'm Retiring

Note: The following post will be fairly long and rambling, so if you don't want to read it...the quick summary is that I'm retiring from snow day blogging. The following paragraphs describe my reasoning for doing so.

As some of you have likely noticed, since the "snowpocalypse" storm back in early February, my blog postings have become less frequent. Some of you probably wondered what was up, and essentially, I've just kind of lost my passion for doing the blog and as such I'm just going to make this my final post, instead of waiting until winter is over to end the blog.

So, some of you will probably now want to know exactly why I'm ending the blog, and I believe I definitely owe you an explanation if you want one, as you're the reason this blog exists. While it's kind of complicated to explain, I'll attempt to do my best in the following paragraphs.

As some of you likely know, the popularity of the blog exploded due to the "snowpocalypse" storm. As far as I know, the blog was (a) talked about on a Detroit radio station (b) featured in an online article and (c) mentioned on the Twitter page of a Detroit meteorologist. In addition, I was contacted by a Detroit TV station about the possibility of them interviewing me about the blog, although the interview never happened. The newfound popularity of the blog was somewhat overwhelming to me, as I've always been somewhat of a shy person. Essentially, I never really meant for the blog to become anything more than an easier way for people I know to view my snow day predictions, but obviously it ended up becoming way more popular than that.

And basically, what has been happening is that the popularity of the blog has been putting a lot of pressure on me. The worst part of making an incorrect weather forecast, in my opinion, is knowing that you've let people down. And basically, I can deal with making an incorrect forecast for people I know, because I can apologize to them and they know I'm far from a professional forecaster. But I hate the thought of random people I don't know at all in real life relying on my forecasts, because that essentially makes me equal to a professional meteorologist, when in all reality I don't even start taking most of my college meteorology courses until two years from now. Basically, due to the popularity of this blog people were listening to my forecasts & predictions like I was a professional meteorologist, when in reality meteorology is currently just a hobby for me, and will be until I graduate from college in 3 years. So, in conclusion, I just think that this blog has gotten too big for me to handle, and as such, I think the proper thing for me to do is to retire from blogging.

Finally, I'd like to sincerely thank everyone who has ever viewed the blog. I know this may seem counterintuitive, since the reason I'm ending the blog is because too many people were viewing it, but honestly, it's great to know that people cared about the work I did enough to read it, and in some cases give me feedback about it and recommend it to other people. Over the nearly three years I did this blog, it helped me receive a scholarship here at Oklahoma. It also helped me get to know many new people. Finally, it helped me gain a vast amount of forecasting knowledge and experience. This blog never would have lasted as long as it did without so many people caring about it, and writing for it really was very enjoyable most of the time.

Although I believe I explained the reasoning behind my decision fairly well, if anyone has any other questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section below and I will certainly be willing to answer them.

Signing Off,

John Schlenner

Tomorrow

I feel almost everyone in SE Michigan will have school tomorrow, except for the districts in rural areas...particularly in the Thumb as they were the jackpot winners with totals from 12-14". I do have to say that I overforecasted almost everyone by a couple of inches. Yes almost everyone got 2 snow days but I am still disappointed in my forecast as almost anyone could have called those snow days. The main thing I was looking for was for my map to verify, and it largely did not. I personally feel I only deserve about a C- grade for this forecast, and I will certainly look to do better next time. Hopefully I don't lose any followers due to this, but I understand if you are disappointed.

Feel free to leave questions & comments below.

I'm currently preoccupied but will make sure to upload the actual snowfall map compared to my map with a breakdown of where I predicted correctly and where I busted badly later.

Video

Obviously it is slightly redundant but I figure I will post it anyways...

Note

Due to a fact that there is an Oklahoma basketball game tomorrow, my next video will be up at around 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time as opposed to the usual 7-8 p.m.

In addition, I have come to the conclusion that the power may in fact go out here...due to the fact that the power has gone out across the street. So, there is the possibility that there will be no video tomorrow, but hopefully I will get one up. I do have a full charge on my laptop, but believe that the Wi-Fi would go out if I lose power...although I may be incorrect in that assumption. Anyways...if there's no video up by 4:30 p.m. tomorrow...there won't be one at all tomorrow, but the plan is to get one up by all means possible.

Edit @ 3:44 Eastern Time to say: It turns out there was enough snow in Norman to postpone the game, giving me more time to polish the blog. Therefore the new post will be up slightly later between 5 and 6 p.m. Hope this works for most people.

Thundersleet In Norman

Here's some of what I'm getting in Norman, the thunder/lightning is at :20 and again at 1:35.

New Video & Snowfall Map

Next Post

The next post, which will be another video forecast, will be up around 7 p.m. Eastern Time again.

Edit: As of 5:36 p.m. Eastern Time...I may have to push the video back, as I had some things come up which has made me get a later start on my preparation than I expected. The video should still be up by 8:00. I will post another update here when I start filming...at that point the video should be up within 20 minutes of that post. I am sorry for any inconvience this may cause.

Edit 2: The video will be up at 7:55 Eastern Time.