By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Well, the Atlanta weatherpeople got it wrong again last weekend. Don’t know how many times this makes it. If threatening weather is anticipated, all us listeners really want to know. We listen avidly to the radio and television. And we have learned to take decisive action. Even our governor has learned this, after a real jam-up last year.
We heard that many went home early Friday, and huddled down to await the four inches of snow, and the icy roads that were being predicted for all of North Georgia.
One forecaster predicted the heaviest accumulation would be right in Metro Atlanta, basically from Spaghetti Junction to Hall County. Four inches, they said. The map showed a purple area where it would hit, and basically, Gwinnett was in its center.
As the sleet started late Friday and into the night, it seemed to be going the way predicted. But waking up Saturday morning, at first we saw that the roofs were white, the grassy areas were covered with a white mesh…..but no snow was falling. On inspection, we found no snow at all. Just a light glazing of ice.
Yep, the weatherpros had missed it again.
We began thinking of the economic impact of lousy weather forecast. Think of:
Productivity: Many of us left work early, some after lunch, others a couple of hours before the expected onslaught on Friday. If the North Georgia population is roughly six million people, and one-third was employed, that means two million lost an average of three hours work. If each contributed only $100 an hour in productivity in their job, that’s $200 million lost production for the firms that employ them.
But that is only the beginning.
Sales: People busy scurrying home from a storm might stop and buy bread, milk and beer, but they don’t visit the major malls. Those two million North Georgia workers, if they didn’t spend $50 each Friday afternoon, that’s another $100 million in lost sales for the mall retailers.
Movies: A lot of people didn’t routinely go to movies. At least another $10 million (that includes popcorn) in lost revenue for the show people.
Auto Sales: Think about it: is anyone going to be shopping for either new (or used) cars as a “weather situation” approaches? Auto dealers probably lost another $25 million in that day’s sales. (Car buying with its big ticket stuff, adds up quickly.” (Since you pay ad valorem taxes on cars when you buy them, even the State of Georgia governments lost at least a few million in taxes.)
High tech: These retailers also found their aisles empty. No one was wasting time to shop for a new computer, or modem, or television set. Count at least $10 million lost here.
You get the drift. Just counting these few items amounts to $345 million impact in lost sales. And we haven’t included people on an hourly wage losing valuable work dollars. Consider, too, that we are trying to be conservative in putting estimates on these lost dollars.
It all adds up to mean that snow threats count heavily in lost economic impact, all because the valuable information that the weather people give us is thoughtfully considered by us average souls wanting to get home before the storm hits.
Years ago, something told us that the three top universities for studying meteorology were Penn State, Florida State and Texas A&M. Next time you see such a graduate of these schools, remind them of their weather grads……..and their continual loss of credibility.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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