VA Governor declares a state of emergency for 2–6 inches of snow. Is overreacting?
Virginia governor issues state of emergency for Friday. Is that justified?
Feel to comment …but try and keep rational folks.
If you look at this just from the meteorological perspective one can make a case that it IS an overreaction.
However, there are some extenuating circumstances that need to be discussed before one can go out and say that the governor has lost his mind, and this is pure politics, and he is covering his ass. Don’t get me wrong — — after this Fiasco on Monday some of this is politics and covering his ass.
That being said keep in mind that the snow in southwest Virginia is going to arrive in the morning and midday hours….and in the late afternoon and evening hours (from southwest to northeast) in northern Virginia (the evening Rush hour).
Also….keep in mind that a significant percentage of Snowplow drivers and contractors are out with COVID.
As I understand it…. in order to call in the National Guard for assistance ( snow removal and possible rescue) state of emergency HAS to be declared. Perhaps I am wrong about that but I think that is the legal requirement. The point is that there are other factors that one should take into consideration before going off and saying that this is a completely ridiculous overreaction by the governor.
Keep in mind that it is human nature to always overreact and be overly cautious with the next event. This is true In all fields of human endeavors whether it’s forecasting weather or people forecasting the next stock market crash (every week some dorkwad who claims to have an amazing track record is predicting the next Wall street crash is just around the corner. Eventually, the market IS going to crash or have a major correction but saying the same thing over and over and over again until it finally comes true is not really predicting anything. Its more like monkeys on typewriters.)
And quite frankly I wish there was another level of awareness that state governments could move into besides just state of emergency. Maybe like state of alert or something like that.