BOSTON – From the beginning, the meteorologists at WBZ-TV in Boston had a bad feeling about the snow storm heading to Massachusetts Tuesday. The snowfall predictions took a major turn downwards from Sunday to Monday and many people want to know why.
Here’s an example of what we were talking about behind the scenes over the weekend while trying to develop an accurate forecast of snowfall totals.
Saturday 1:21 p.m.
Text from Eric Fisher to me: “I dunno, just feels like a weird headfake storm to me”
Sunday 4:05 p.m.
Text from Eric Fisher to me: “Still feeling kind of leery of a late shift south”
Monday 12:47 a.m. on WBZ-TV News after the Super Bowl
Eric talking to David Wade and Lisa Hughes: “I’m a little worried it’s going to slip farther south; we will watch the trends tomorrow”
Granted some of these conversations were private, but we did try to caution our viewers about the uncertainty with this particular storm. Trust me, I know, in the end, many folks aren’t hanging on every word that is said on TV and most are just waiting for the snow forecast map.
Winter storms are like snowflakes, no two are exactly alike. This is a big part of what makes forecasting in New England so intriguing. You can literally do this job your entire life (see Barry Burbank, well over 40 years), and still have sleepless nights wondering if the atmosphere will behave as you predicted.
Contrary to popular belief, meteorologists don’t just go outside and stick their fingers in the air to determine the forecast. We rely on very complex weather models. These models are run on giant supercomputers capable of churning out quadrillions of calculations per second. Seriously! That’s 15 zeros!
Despite this insane amount of technology, in the end, the weather is still somewhat unpredictable. There are just too many moving parts. We are light years better at forecasting now than we were 10, 20, 30 years ago, but still far from perfect. We would love to be able to accurately predict how much snow your town is going to get four days in advance but that just isn’t possible. This is, after all, still a FORECAST. Things will change. Sometimes dramatically so.
Over the weekend, you likely started seeing snowfall forecast maps popping up here, there and everywhere. By Sunday, most of the model guidance seemed to be converging on a storm track that would produce a widespread 6-to-12″ of snow across southern New England. However, with this storm, there was a very fine line between getting a whole bunch of snow and getting nothing. We knew that there would be some very intense snow bands that would produce 1-to-3″ per hour. If your town ended up underneath this banding, you were in for an intense 3-6 hours of snow. Just a few miles to the north, flurries.
By Sunday night, and more so Monday morning, there was a minor shift in the model output. It appeared that the center of the storm may pass about 50 miles farther south that what was originally forecast. For a storm system several hundred miles across, 50 miles isn’t much. BUT, if those 50 miles just happen to be right over Massachusetts a minor shift becomes a MAJOR story. Shifting the highest snowfall totals (8-12″) 50 miles southward had a major impact of hundreds of thousands of people. For reference…50 miles (as the crow flies) in Massachusetts is like going from Lawrence to Plymouth or Boston to Falmouth.
So, much to the disappointment of some, and the delight of others, we made a significant change to our snowfall forecast Monday afternoon. Basically, everything was shifted about 25-50 miles south.
Unfortunately, many towns, schools and businesses had already chosen to make a decision to close on Tuesday, nearly 24 hours prior to the first flakes. I get it, you want to give folks as much notice as possible to find babysitters, change plans etc. Sure, occasionally you get a multi-day mega-blizzard, and the call is an easy one. Most of the time, however, making those calls a full day in advance is a dangerous proposition and NOT one that any meteorologist would recommend.
Part of me longs for the old days, when we would all wake up at 5 a.m. and flip on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 to hear whether school was canceled or not. Strange that back then, when communication was much more rudimentary, we waited until the last minute to make those decisions. Whereas now, when we can get the word out in seconds via text, robocall, social media etc, we make the calls way sooner.
At the end of nearly every blog I write, I urge everyone to stay tuned to updated forecasts. That isn’t just a throwaway line, we really mean it!
The atmosphere is a crazy place. A thunderstorm unexpectedly forming in Texas on Monday could start a chain reaction that leads to massive changes to Boston’s weather a few days later.
We know and respect that you all have busy lives with kids to care for and businesses to run. Our goal is to provide you with the most accurate information possible and, just as important, keeping you updated when changes occur.
BOSTON (WHDH) – A pedestrian was hit and killed in Roxbury Thursday morning.
The collision occurred just before 8:20 a.m. on Tremont Street.
Police said Tremont Street was closed in both directions between Brigham Circle and Roxbury Crossing.
This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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A 96-year-old Boston woman received the surprise of a lifetime when she discovered the French men’s national soccer team had become her neighbors at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Back Bay.
Shirley, a beloved resident of the neighborhood, said she had no idea she would end up meeting the players in town for the World Cup.
“They’re my buddies,” she said with a laugh.
Her caretaker, Samia, said Shirley has become well known around Back Bay.
“Anyone outside, when we are walking, people come to her and want to talk to her,” Samia said.
The U.S. is out of the World Cup. Fellow co-hosts Mexico and Canada are too. So who should
The excitement around the hotel grew after the French team arrived to stay there during the tournament.
Shirley said the encounter happened unexpectedly while she was eating lunch.
“I was having lunch and they came over, and since then, it’s been wonderful to have them here,” she said.
Shirley said team representatives soon invited her to meet the players.
“And they said, ‘He would like to meet you.’ I said, ‘I’m glad to meet anybody,’” she recalled.
For this Massachusetts teenager, attending a World Cup match was more than a dream come true, it was a milestone in a journey that began when he was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma — something that might not have happened if he hadn’t been playing soccer.
After the visit, Shirley recorded a cellphone video sharing her excitement.
“This is absolutely — I cannot tell you how unbelievably fabulous this is,” she said.
The meeting ended with a memorable gift: A jersey from French star Kylian Mbappé.
The team also made her a promise.
“[They] told me that if they win, he will sign it, and then it will be worth a lot of money,” she said, laughing.
Samia, who is from Algeria, quickly agreed. She said she was already a devoted supporter of the French squad after spending many years living in France.
“I’m so excited. I went to Philadelphia to watch the game this past weekend. So, believe me, I’m totally 100% with them. I wanted them to go back to France with a cup,” she said.
Shirley said she never expected to become a fan, but she appreciated the sense of community the tournament brought to her neighborhood.
“It’s good to see such camaraderie happening, with people here getting along. Yeah, it’s the greatest thing,” she said.
She said she still did not know why the team wanted to meet her, but she’s grateful nonetheless. Shirley remains hopeful her new friends would keep winning, and keep returning to Boston.
Local News
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Wednesday that the city is suing social media companies — including Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube — over their alleged deliberate targeting of minors with addictive features.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Boston Public Schools in federal court in California, will be consolidated with more than 1,500 similar complaints from school districts around the country, Wu’s office said.
The lawsuit seeks to force the companies to remove addictive features and compensate the city for the mental health support needed by students. It alleges the companies designed addictive features specifically to keep young people engaged. These features include endless scrolling, frequent notifications, and personalized algorithms, city officials said.
In a statement, Wu said that these companies have evidence of the harm they are causing to children.
“Boston is taking legal action to protect children and youth and hold these companies accountable. Today, we are making it clear that social media companies must end exploitative practices and be accountable to standards of basic protection for children,” she said.
The move comes as more Massachusetts politicians look to rein in social media companies. The state’s House of Representatives passed a bill in April that would implement a phone ban in schools and prohibit children 14 and younger from using social media. Gov. Maura Healey followed that up by introducing legislation that would require social media companies to verify users’ ages and limit the ways in which minors are exposed to potentially addictive design features.
Just last week, the state Senate unveiled legislation that would require social media companies to automatically disable these types of features for minors.
BPS officials say that they have seen a “significant increase” in social media-fueled mental health needs over the past decade. They cited data from the Boston Public Health Commission that shows the impact on high school students. In 2015, just 26.7% of Boston public high school students reported “persistent sadness.” By 2021, that figure had risen to 43.9%.
The district says it has responded by “exponentially” expanding mental health resources. In 2007, there were six social workers and 48 school psychologists employed in the BPS system. The district now has 240 social workers and 105 school psychologists, officials said.
“We work hard to set our students on the best course for success through rigorous academics and whole-student supports, and the research is clear that social media has had a negative impact on students’ well-being while benefiting companies. We all need to do what is right for our students,” Superintendent Mary Skipper said in a statement.
In March, a jury in California found that Meta and YouTube are liable for intentionally designing addictive features and that executives failed to protect young users.
In May, Meta and other social media companies settled a lawsuit brought by a Kentucky school district in a bellwether case.
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