Latest / Inside the OSD / S1 E9 - Snow Days Feat. NBC 15’s Brian Doogs

Transcript

S1 E9 - Snow Days Feat. NBC 15’s Brian Doogs · Inside the OSD

• 0:06
  SPEAKER1: Today on Inside The OSD, we're talking about something that potentially impacts every district in Wisconsin and the Midwest, for that matter.
• 0:14
  Snow days.
• 0:15
  One of the most difficult decisions a superintendent is tasked with is making a call for a snow day.
• 0:21
  And in Wisconsin, there is possibility of that each winter.
• 0:24
  There are a number of factors that go into calling a snow day.
• 0:27
  And of course, safety is the most important thing.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:39
  Here is your host, lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Dr.
• 0:43
  Leslie Bergstrom.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER1: One thing we look at when considering a snow day is the weather forecast.
• 0:52
  I'm really thrilled to have NBC 15 meteorologist Brian Doogs here with us today.
• 0:58
  Brian, thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to talk with us about weather and snow days.
• 1:04
  Could you start by telling our listeners a little bit about yourself and how you came to be a meteorologist for NBC 15?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER2: Yeah, absolutely, Leslie.
• 1:11
  Thanks for having me.
• 1:14
  Gosh, I've been doing weather now for, I think 11 or 12 years.
• 1:18
  I actually started in Missouri for a little bit a year or so, and then I was in Illinois for a year or so.
• 1:24
  And then I've been in the Madison area now.
• 1:26
  I think I just celebrated ten years back in October, actually.
• 1:29
  So, yeah, I've been here a while now.
• 1:31
  I'm used to the area.
• 1:32
  Weather's kind of always been my thing.
• 1:34
  When I was younger, a lot of people, of course, maybe wanting to be a fireman, police officer or something like that.
• 1:40
  There was a short time I wanted to drive trains and be a conductor, but then I remember we had a couple of weather events, a couple tornado events and winter
• 1:48
  weather events when I was in elementary school and just kind of really fell in love with Mother Nature.
• 1:54
  And it kind of spawned from there.
• 1:57
  And here we are today.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER1: So, you've known ever since you were little, this is something you wanted to do.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER2: Yeah, exactly.
• 2:04
  And I was fortunate enough to have some teachers I remember through middle and high school that kind of helped me out.
• 2:09
  And my high school actually had a television production and it was very low grade, of course, but kind of got a little fix there, doing some weather
• 2:19
  for the morning news that we had and over the loudspeaker and eventually over the TV that we had there.
• 2:25
  So that was kind of fun and kind of really, I think, pushed me to go to college for meteorology.
• 2:31
  And then I ended up going to Purdue University back in Indiana, where I'm from, and got a degree in atmospheric science and minored in communications.
• 2:40
  So the TV aspect was not necessarily something I knew I was going to go into.
• 2:46
  I knew I wanted to do weather, but I didn't really know if I was going to do TV.
• 2:50
  And that just kind of came along the way after some internships and some other things along the way that I was like, "Hey, maybe I'll try this TV thing out."
• 2:58
  SPEAKER1: So for people who are meteorologists on television, is that usually the type of degree they have?
• 3:05
  Are there other possibilities or is is that pretty much the route people need to take?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER2: Well, believe it or not, there are a lot of weather jobs out there.
• 3:13
  People typically think the weather service or TV meteorologists, but just about every large company has some type of meteorologists on hand, whether it be
• 3:22
  shipping, airlines, sports,
• 3:23
  SPEAKER1: Make sense.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER2: you name it.
• 3:26
  There are a lot of meteorologists out there, power companies, energy sector's huge.
• 3:32
  And a lot of times people don't think about that.
• 3:34
  They think TV, the Weather Service, of course, but that's kind of where a lot of the weather jobs are.
• 3:39
  I kind of just decided to go to the TV route and as I mentioned, after doing some internships and thought it would be kind of fun, I only get early minoring
• 3:47
  in communication, so I learned a lot of my TV stuff along the way and that's how I kind of became on TV.
• 3:55
  Not necessarily from my schooling per se.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER1: I got it.
• 3:59
  So now on to snow days.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER2: Oh yeah.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER1: As a school district, calling a snow day is a pretty big decision because it requires a significant change to family schedules.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER2: Sure.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER1: So if we must cancel, we attempt to do it as far advance as possible.
• 4:16
  However, we know that weather patterns can be very difficult to predict and the impact on schools is not often clear until really
• 4:26
  early in the morning.
• 4:27
  And a great example of that was last week's weather pattern.
• 4:30
  That was a very challenging one right up until the early parts of the morning.
• 4:36
  So can you talk with our listeners about the process of predicting weather patterns and why it can be so challenging to know exactly what is going to
• 4:43
  happen?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER2: Of course, everyone loves snow days, teachers, kids.
• 4:47
  I remember them growing up and it is complicated.
• 4:51
  We wish it was as cut and dry as everyone's going to get a nice blanket of snow.
• 4:54
  It's going to be X amount in your criteria that you want to cancel school.
• 4:58
  But the reality is, and especially this year, it seems like that's just not the case.
• 5:03
  We seem to kind of be on the line of a lot of these systems, whether it's very light snow totals, the heavy snow totals, rain versus snow.
• 5:11
  And that really does complicate the situation.
• 5:14
  When I'm putting my forecast together, I'm looking at all the new data coming in throughout the day, throughout the week and kind of comparing how things are
• 5:22
  coming, putting my own forecast together.
• 5:24
  And we cover a large area all the way down from the state line to almost La Crosse, almost Milwaukee.
• 5:29
  And that's a large geographical area where a lot of different things can happen weather wise and it can make the message a little difficult to get out because
• 5:38
  some places might be getting more snow than others.
• 5:40
  And people sometimes kind of fixate on the worst case scenario or the highest total.
• 5:46
  So that makes it a little complicated.
• 5:48
  And to a lesser extent, even on your guys's level.
• 5:51
  I mean, you cover a decent area where the school district is, and even from north to south.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER1: We might get different totals.
• 5:57
  Absolutely.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER2: And of course, it depends on the district.
• 6:00
  Like you guys, if you have more rural roadways versus more heavily traveled roadways that are going to be more clear than the other ones.
• 6:08
  So it is a difficult decision and I'm glad I'm not the one making it.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER1: Well, yeah, it can be challenging, but it's also really good to have strong partnerships with the meteorologists.
• 6:20
  And there have been several of you have been really accessible, and we appreciate that very much because it is hard when we hear things
• 6:29
  like we're right on the line.
• 6:31
  And one part of the line is where we could have school and the other part is where we can't.
• 6:36
  And honestly, sometimes we can't predict that right up until it's about to happen.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER2: Yeah, that's a very true thing.
• 6:44
  And again, we want kind of instant gratification these days, I feel like.
• 6:48
  But sometimes patience is the best thing because you don't want to make the wrong decision either way, in case it does move a little bit in one direction
• 6:55
  and you can get the school or the other way around.
• 6:57
  Maybe now you need to cancel school.
• 6:58
  Patience sometimes can actually be the best thing, and it's just something we kind of have to deal with in the weather.
• 7:05
  It's an imperfect science. I always say.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER1: Absolutely. It's just -- it's problematic to make a snow day call too early because then you would potentially have families at home when they
• 7:16
  could be at school or you bring kids in and then you have a giant event and it's hard to get them home.
• 7:24
  So it's it's challenging to walk the line and make the right decision.
• 7:28
  But for us, it's always about safety first.
• 7:30
  We have to be as mindful as possible of that.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER2: Yeah, and one thing I always try to get out is sometimes not necessarily focusing on the totals or the exact amounts, but the impacts that are going to
• 7:44
  be felt from the system.
• 7:45
  Because if we get an inch or two of snow early in the season during the morning commute, that could be just as impactful as mid-season, a four or five inch
• 7:52
  snow, maybe during the afternoon when there's not as many people on the roadways.
• 7:56
  So sometimes you kind of have to weigh the impacts as well and not just what you're seeing on paper or temperatures, ice or snow totals, but how it's going
• 8:04
  to impact the area as well.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER1: Oh, thank you. That's that's a good thing to remember.
• 8:09
  So one thing that is usually slightly easier to predict is when a school might close due to cold weather.
• 8:15
  Yeah. So there's a difference between wind chill warnings and wind chill advisories.
• 8:19
  And schools tend to close when there is a warning and not an advisory.
• 8:23
  But can you talk about the difference between the two?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER2: Yeah. So when it comes to an advisory, it's the less severe form of wind chill and then a warning is the more severe one.
• 8:33
  So the advisory typically comes out when wind chills are between about 20 and 34 below zero.
• 8:39
  And then a warning typically comes out when wind chills are 35 below zero or more, and that's more severe.
• 8:47
  And that's typically when frostbite on exposed skin is going to be 10 minutes or less.
• 8:51
  And that's when we really start to try to get the message out that you need to take this pretty seriously, because even if you dress appropriately, you have
• 9:00
  the potential to get frostbite.
• 9:01
  And if you have any exposed skin, 10 minutes is not that long.
• 9:04
  Kids waiting out at the bus stop, that's how long they're waiting out for the bus many times.
• 9:08
  And I can see that being a greater danger.
• 9:11
  So, yeah, the wind chill warning is typically frostbite.
• 9:15
  That is going to occur in 10 minutes or less on exposed skin and a little more severe than the advisory.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. And you are absolutely right.
• 9:23
  When it gets to the point of 10 minutes or less on exposed skin is frostbite, that's when you know, it's more likely that kids should be staying home where we
• 9:32
  can guarantee they're going to be safe.
• 9:34
  Yeah. So what is your favorite thing about being a meteorologist?
• 9:38
  And then what is the most challenging?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER2: Gosh, I think one of my favorite things is just every day, you don't know what you're going to expect.
• 9:46
  Things change so quickly.
• 9:49
  In my profession, every day is kind of a new day, a new project.
• 9:52
  A Lot of professions, you'll work on something for several weeks, several months.
• 9:56
  And while we do have those from time to time, a lot of our work is just every day is a new project and you're starting over and you're kind of getting going
• 10:03
  again. And as I mentioned, it is an imperfect science.
• 10:06
  There's so much that we know, but there's so much that we don't know.
• 10:10
  So along the way, we're learning and we're finding out things and we're just knowing so much more than we did even five, ten, 20 years ago.
• 10:19
  And I think that really keeps the profession exciting and it keeps me excited and engaged and just kind of working to find out what's going to be next.
• 10:28
  Now, on that same side of things, it isn't a perfect science, so you are going to be wrong sometimes.
• 10:34
  And being on the line of the systems like we've talked about, that can be kind of complicated and can kind of upset some people because as I mentioned earlier,
• 10:43
  some people tend to fixate on the worst case scenario or the higher range of what we're saying, and it's really working on getting the message out to people.
• 10:52
  And that's why I do like to focus more sometimes on the impacts rather than a specific amount of whatever we're dealing with out there: wind, snow, rain or
• 11:02
  whatever it will be. And then kind of in this new digital era, and not just weather, of course, this is with a lot of things, just getting information out
• 11:09
  there that is reliable, it's accurate.
• 11:11
  There's a lot of weekend warriors or weather enthusiasts, which is awesome.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER1: Yeah, Yeah.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER2: Hobbies are great. Yes.
• 11:17
  But they're not always accurate.
• 11:19
  So making sure you get your information from a reliable source.
• 11:21
  TV, the weather Service, the school districts, places like that versus something you may see just kind of floating on the Internet that could just be
• 11:30
  raw data or outdated or just not accurate.
• 11:34
  So it's definitely something we battle this day and age is making sure we get the right message out and people are seeing the accurate information.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER1: Well, I hope some of our students are listening to this because you're making it sound like a pretty interesting career.
• 11:47
  So it's clear you like it.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER2: Yeah, I do. It's very science filled.
• 11:53
  If you like science and math, you'll love being a meteorologist.
• 11:56
  So a lot of my coursework in college was basically following the engineering curriculum at Purdue, which is a very engineering heavy school.
• 12:04
  Yeah, so a lot of chemistry, physics, calculus, you name it.
• 12:10
  We did a lot of computer programing, of course, a lot of graphic work and modeling data and all that kind of stuff.
• 12:16
  So if it's something you're interested in, that's what you'll have to be dealing with along the journey.
• 12:21
  And I and I would never take any of it back.
• 12:23
  It was a lot of hard work, but I really loved it and I love what I do nowadays.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER1: Oh, that's a lucky thing.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER2: Yeah.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER1: So finally, I understand that Jimmy the groundhog saw his shadow earlier this month, which I believe that means six more weeks of winter, according to Jimmy.
• 12:38
  So according -- can you tell our listeners about your experience with Jimmy?
• 12:42
  And do you think he was right?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER2: Well, it's always fun to have a little groundhog play into the forecast and someone we can blame when the weather is not exactly right.
• 12:52
  Statistically, though, Jimmy doesn't have the best record.
• 12:55
  I don't remember off the top of my head, but we did for fun look back a while ago and found that he doesn't have a great track record when it comes to spring.
• 13:04
  And we live in Wisconsin, so we know there's going to be six more weeks of winter and probably than some.
• 13:09
  But we'll take advantage of those sunny and warm days any time we get them.
• 13:13
  I think as we head into the winter, it absolutely is upon us.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER1: It's all in fun because you were just talking about all of the science that you had to study to be able to do your job well and make accurate forecasts.
• 13:25
  So Jimmy, the groundhog is all in fun.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER2: Exactly.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER1: Exactly. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Brian.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER2: No problem. Thanks for having me.
• 13:33
  You bet. You know, you're busy.
• 13:34
  You're probably off to the studio soon, so thank you.
• 13:37
  Thank you.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER1: So as you've just heard, calling a snow day is a complex decision.
• 13:44
  And I know that families have questions about them.
• 13:47
  Now, I'm going to talk with one of our own OSD parents to discuss some common questions that we hear about snow days.
• 13:54
  So welcome to inside the OSD.
• 13:56
  Can you introduce yourself?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER3: Hi, my name's Heather.
• 13:59
  I am the parent of a fourth grader.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. Go ahead.
• 14:03
  What questions do you have?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER3: I've noticed that neighboring districts tend to make the same snow day decisions.
• 14:10
  Why is that?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER1: Well, we're all listening to the same forecasted information.
• 14:16
  That's one of the reasons we tend to make similar calls.
• 14:20
  We're also frequently in communication with one another just because we get to have discussions together to talk about what we're seeing and how we think that
• 14:30
  might be impacting our students and our staff and their commutes to and from school.
• 14:37
  And also, interestingly, a lot of our staff members live in other districts.
• 14:42
  And this is the case for for all of Dane County.
• 14:45
  You might work in Verona, but live in Madison.
• 14:50
  So in many ways we're super connected and integrated.
• 14:54
  So when a school district cancels school, we know that whatever staff members live in that district, they may have to stay home and take care of children.
• 15:03
  So it's like an interconnected web.
• 15:05
  Constantly, while we're responsible for making our own decisions, we really do consult with one another because the school districts impact one another in a
• 15:14
  pretty significant way.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER3: Why might they be different?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER1: Well, sometimes it can be different because we have different configurations.
• 15:23
  For example, if you were a school district that was mostly in a smaller area, you didn't have a lot of rural roads.
• 15:32
  You may have a better opportunity to ensure clear and safe streets than a district like Oregon that is long and skinny with a lot of rural roads.
• 15:40
  And actually a lot of the districts in the Dane County area have a good portion of their district in rural areas, and it makes it pretty tricky when you're
• 15:50
  trying to get to school.
• 15:52
  So that's why oftentimes if you live, for example, in the village and you are out and about and on a snow day and you might think, why in the world would a
• 16:01
  snow day be called when the streets look so good?
• 16:03
  But you have to remember that a good portion of our district are rural roads.
• 16:08
  And so what it looks like in the village, for example, might not what it looks -- might not be what it looks like out in the country.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER3: So with that being said, does that mean transportation is a factor?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER1: It absolutely is.
• 16:22
  Of course, we have to make sure that everybody can get to school safely and get home safely.
• 16:28
  But our transportation system is critical to that discussion.
• 16:33
  Actually consult with some of them in the morning on occasion and ask them what they think about the road conditions and their ability to get kids to and from
• 16:42
  school safely.
• 16:44
  They play a very important role in this.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER3: What process do you go through to call a snow day?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER1: Well, it's a long one.
• 16:52
  So we I'm signed up for information from the National Weather Service out of the Milwaukee Sullivan area.
• 16:59
  And so when there is a weather event coming, I get continual updates sent from this National Weather Service.
• 17:07
  And of course, we're continuously looking at our local stations.
• 17:11
  We have great people working for the local stations who do everything possible to give us up to date information.
• 17:18
  So today, as an example, today, Wednesday, February 15th, we have a 2 p.m.
• 17:24
  webinar with the National Weather Service to get updated information.
• 17:28
  It's highly likely they'll have another one this evening.
• 17:31
  And then there is another one at 3:45 in the morning on the morning of Thursday, February 16th, so that we can see how the weather pattern
• 17:41
  is changing and they give us information as to what area at that point in time they think will be most impacted.
• 17:49
  And unfortunately, we've been right on the line of weather pattern systems lately.
• 17:55
  That's made it very difficult to make any decisions in advance because we haven't been able to tell what's really going to happen until right before
• 18:04
  school starts.
• 18:05
  And that'll be the way it often is with snow, because it's just so challenging to predict ahead of time.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER3: So we've already had three snow days.
• 18:16
  What happens if there's another one?
• 18:18
  SPEAKER1: Well, if we have one more, then we would be in school on Friday, June 9th.
• 18:25
  That would be our last day of school.
• 18:27
  So we would extend the school year by one day if we have another inclement weather day.
• 18:34
  And of course, we're all hoping that we don't because we all want to be in session.
• 18:39
  But safety is the most important thing.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER3: So finally, when will we know for sure when the last day of school is?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER1: Well, that's a great question.
• 18:49
  And we really have to wait until the likelihood for inclement weather is significantly reduced.
• 18:55
  And usually that's sometime in mid-April.
• 18:57
  We have actually had snow days in early April before.
• 19:00
  So while it's tempting to to call the last day of school in March, because people really want to know and I don't blame them.
• 19:07
  I know it impacts them significantly.
• 19:10
  We really should wait till mid-April because we do often have early April weather systems.
• 19:16
  I want to remind our listeners, you can find links to Inside the OSD on our website at Oregon
• 19:25
  SD.org/podcast. It is also available on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
• 19:33
  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
• 19:39
  Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about our kids.