Contributed by:
Karen Groves/YourHub.com
Article Contributed on: 3/26/2009 5:02:39 PM
After I went to a Jefferson County Emergency Management task force meeting March 24, I felt like I learned a little bit.
I also felt under-educated about weather, downslopes, 1,000-hour fuel moisture contents and energy release components at the 90th percentile.
These are just a few of the evaluation guidelines the emergency management people look at before they advise things like fire bans.
On March 24 it was just as dry as it has been since the beginning of the year.
I learned that if you clean out your gutters, all those pine needles, leaves, whatever, you are doing something defensible.
I can do that, although I thought I already did clean out the gutters.
I picked up a few tips on how the various agencies prepare for potential disaster scenarios. Not that they can prevent human error, like tossing cigarettes or leaving a campfire unattended. But they do look ahead and they worry about us and want us to be safe.
I appreciate that.
But the weather changed, and now, at least today anyway we don't have to worry about the drought, or fires.
Because the prediction of a snowstorm that would sweep across the state and dump moisture by the bucket loads, came true.
And that's a reason to rejoice, and cancel school or leave work early.
In my neighborhood this morning it was all about little flakes. At 10 a.m. I noticed they were getting bigger and had more snow punch. By 5 p.m., still snowing lightly, there was at least a foot, maybe more - blanketing the ground.