tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post5284040848092892173..comments2024-03-28T23:07:35.632-07:00Comments on Cliff Mass Weather Blog: Is Seattle Ready for Snow?Cliff Mass Weather Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13948649423540350788noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-43437525088808020292010-11-15T17:06:21.079-08:002010-11-15T17:06:21.079-08:00I’m the IT manager for the King County Department ...I’m the IT manager for the King County Department of Transportation, and would like to offer up some more info. Since the winter of 2008-2009, we have upgraded the Tracker servers (production and backup) and have done preliminary stress testing on the Tracker application to determine that we can handle at least 20 times the normal daily peak load on the site and about 10 times more peak load requests than occurred during the snow storms of 2008. We will do further stress testing after we obtain additional testing tools.<br /><br />Prof. Mass, like many others, hope that transit riders can rely on our Tracker system even when service become highly disrupted due to snow route operation and significant traffic delays. Unfortunately, server hardware capacity is not the primary problem. The current legacy Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system cannot provide data to the Tracker application if a bus deviates from its normal route path. As soon as buses go to snow routes, it renders the Tracker application nearly useless. This also happens to private applications - like One Bus Away - that also use the same Metro data. If this happens, we will disable our Tracker application and post notices to that effect on our website. Quite a bit of Metro data is available at http://www.datakc.org/ and also at Metro Online (click on apps icon) http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/MetroTransit/Developers/AppCenter.aspx for anyone who would like to develop an application.<br /><br />Metro has been working on a project to equip all buses with GPS for some time. GPS enables “off-route” buses to be tracked, although predictive arrival times at stops would still not be accurate (because they are based on historic travel times). We have already begun installing the new system and all buses in the fleet should have it by 2012. This will provide much better real-time vehicle location information to the public. Outfitting 1,400 coaches with GPS emitters is a difficult task in itself – but that is almost trivial compared to the data transmission infrastructure and back office systems that are needed to process that large amount of information to match to service routes, do predictive arrival times, and present the information to the public in a meaningful way. Consumer solutions using GPS-enabled devices don’t have the back office data management to handle 1,400 buses. A complete radio system is also required to transmit the location data cost effectively. The cost of a commercial cell carrier just to transmit the data would be about $1 million a year.<br /><br />Others who have posted on this blog are correct - the best thing you can do to travel safely during this winter is prepare ahead of time. Sign up for Transit Alerts at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/alerts. Know the snow routing for the bus routes you use most often - all are included in the online and print timetables. And, check Metro's service status page at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/snow before you leave.<br /><br />Wayne Watanabe<br />IT Service Delivery Manager<br />King County Dept of TransportationUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01054051515840280092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-60767115004726983292010-11-15T16:59:57.717-08:002010-11-15T16:59:57.717-08:00I’m the IT manager for the King County Department ...I’m the IT manager for the King County Department of Transportation, and would like to offer up some more info. Since the winter of 2008-2009, we have upgraded the Tracker servers (production and backup) and have done preliminary stress testing on the Tracker application to determine that we can handle at least 20 times the normal daily peak load on the site and about 10 times more peak load requests than occurred during the snow storms of 2008. We will do further stress testing after we obtain additional testing tools.<br /><br />Prof. Mass, like many others, hope that transit riders can rely on our Tracker system even when service become highly disrupted due to snow route operation and significant traffic delays. Unfortunately, server hardware capacity is not the primary problem. The current legacy Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system cannot provide data to the Tracker application if a bus deviates from its normal route path. As soon as buses go to snow routes, it renders the Tracker application nearly useless. This also happens to private applications - like One Bus Away - that also use the same Metro data. If this happens, we will disable our Tracker application and post notices to that effect on our website. Quite a bit of Metro data is available at http://www.datakc.org/ and also at http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/MetroTransit/Developers/AppCenter.aspx for anyone who would like to develop an application.<br /><br />Metro has been working on a project to equip all buses with GPS for some time. GPS enables “off-route” buses to be tracked, although predictive arrival times at stops would still not be accurate (because they are based on historic travel times). We have already begun installing the new system and all buses in the fleet should have it by 2012. This will provide much better real-time vehicle location information to the public. Outfitting 1,400 coaches with GPS emitters is a difficult task in itself – but that is almost trivial compared to the data transmission infrastructure and back office systems that are needed to process that large amount of information to match to service routes, do predictive arrival times, and present the information to the public in a meaningful way. Consumer solutions using GPS-enabled devices don’t have the back office data management to handle 1,400 buses. A complete radio system is also required to transmit the location data cost effectively. The cost of a commercial cell carrier just to transmit the data would be about $1 million a year.<br /><br />Others who have posted on this blog are correct - the best thing you can do to travel safely during this winter is prepare ahead of time. Sign up for Transit Alerts at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/alerts. Know the snow routing for the bus routes you use most often - all are included in the online and print timetables. And, check Metro's service status page at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/snow before you leave.<br /><br />Wayne Watanabe<br />IT Service Delivery Manager<br />King County Dept or TransportationUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01054051515840280092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-29004278931568970132010-11-15T15:28:11.564-08:002010-11-15T15:28:11.564-08:00@snapdragon: I was on I-5 that day as well. Coul...@snapdragon: I was on I-5 that day as well. Couldn't leave until Les Schwab got my snow tires on at noon after a four-hour wait, and then it took me eight hours to get to Kalama.<br /><br />I did a 270-degree spinout at the Martin Road exit in Lacey, but no one else was behind us, and I remember asking my passenger if she was all right and her responding in the affirmative before we'd even stopped sliding.<br /><br />My memory, though, is that things got easier after that, but then I didn't go as far south from Kelso as you did.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08882435358173829560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-43654835462412051152010-11-13T00:03:00.706-08:002010-11-13T00:03:00.706-08:00Scott Sistek from KOMO wrote a rather good explana...Scott Sistek from KOMO wrote a rather good explanation of why many times cold and snow forecasts in the models more than a week in advance do not pan out.<br /><br />http://www.komonews.com/weather/blog/107298353.html<br /><br />Basically, the GFS (specifically) beyond 192 hours (8 days) is run on coarser resolution, which includes much less accurate depiction of the mountains to our east (Cascades, even the Canadian Rockies) that tend to block a lot of the cold air from moving into western Washington. Thus, more than a week in advance, the GFS pretty much assumes that all that air can just move into our area with no problem. But the conditions have to be right for it to move in through the Fraser River Gap (and to the south, the Columbia River Gorge contributes as well). One of the runs of the GFS earlier this week brought low temperatures of -11 F to Bellingham and +3 F to Seattle on Thanksgiving morning. Yea, maybe, if those tall things called mountains were not in the way.Wx Enthusiasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11676337731061824294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-12038529574546826312010-11-12T19:06:48.736-08:002010-11-12T19:06:48.736-08:00Cliff,
This question is sort of off-topic but it d...Cliff,<br />This question is sort of off-topic but it does indirectly correlate with potential snow events here in the PNW. In the NWS discussions, there is talk of a ridge of high pressure retrograding to the west. With the predominant air flow from W to E in the Northern Latidudes, just curious how a High can move west? I would appreciate a short explanation if that is possible.Soupmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05160499749082498866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-49102452239397876862010-11-12T17:12:44.294-08:002010-11-12T17:12:44.294-08:00Bustracker is also a major sore point with me. I a...Bustracker is also a major sore point with me. I am tired of the unusable applications. I have been looking for the protocol documentation to fix this problem myself, but it seems that info is not available. Please encourage whoever owns bustracker to publish that information.Schwerkrafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04106803447401211923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-20045824512561361462010-11-12T11:45:26.012-08:002010-11-12T11:45:26.012-08:00drexnefex -
Looking at the SDOT map, they have al...drexnefex -<br /><br />Looking at the SDOT map, they have already surrendered the Queen Anne Counterbalance before the first flake ever falls.<br /><br />Courier & Ives on crack - the hill is soon salted with the blood of the locals taking on the SUVs going around the "street closed" signs.<br /><br />Glorious... ;^}Hair Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18303259947289541669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-86774623150919150962010-11-12T11:32:41.652-08:002010-11-12T11:32:41.652-08:00Some people work jobs that do not include PTO, and...Some people work jobs that do not include PTO, and if you don't work, you don't get paid. I'm lucky to have a reasonable, understanding employer. Others are not so lucky.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05627385149182932106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-78571904689890601552010-11-12T10:04:44.146-08:002010-11-12T10:04:44.146-08:00Number of days (annually) Seattle might lose to sn...Number of days (annually) Seattle might lose to snow: typically well below 5<br /><br />Number of days (annually) people in Seattle can spend talking about snow removal: well over 30<br /><br />Entertainment benefits of living in a city where people spend more energy talking than acting: Priceless.John Franklinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16424249779395129712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-26066730520307929212010-11-11T19:48:52.825-08:002010-11-11T19:48:52.825-08:00Re: bLarryB's comment - I wonder how much time...Re: bLarryB's comment - I wonder how much time was spent looking at other cities' snow plans. We are far from the only city with occasional but infrequent snowfall. This new plan sounds great, but it would be even better if we weren't trying to reinvent the wheel.MKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04030810839330135895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-79468217226230229702010-11-11T14:50:49.572-08:002010-11-11T14:50:49.572-08:00The only fly in this ointment is the large number ...The only fly in this ointment is the large number of abandoned cars in the middle of all those lanes.rainier beacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12375454937652266809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-2531586348104425002010-11-11T14:46:18.724-08:002010-11-11T14:46:18.724-08:00One thing not mentioned in any of the city's p...One thing not mentioned in any of the city's plans that I've seen is how to deal with the myriad of abandoned cars that prevented the plows and buses from doing their work.rainier beacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12375454937652266809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-60085703042257465092010-11-11T11:13:31.364-08:002010-11-11T11:13:31.364-08:00Always love the Forman references! December 1990 ...Always love the Forman references! December 1990 was another instance as well.C.P.O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16880429004171251097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-85470502451614979832010-11-11T11:05:46.520-08:002010-11-11T11:05:46.520-08:00Why do we make such a big deal out of snow? Snow i...Why do we make such a big deal out of snow? Snow in Seattle usually means a day or two of inconvenient commuting and months of complaining about how bad the traffic was. Is it really such a big deal or do we simply get a kick out of whining. If we had concerns like; will our water run? Will the population be able to stay warm? If stores close will we have enough food to last two days? What are the implications for the homeless and those in poor housing? Nope. Instead we are concerned about being able to drive places quickly and conveniently. Not that big of a deal.Steven Breyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07571209321130218979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-74504270008074571212010-11-11T10:59:36.226-08:002010-11-11T10:59:36.226-08:00I don't think there was any changing of the gu...I don't think there was any changing of the guard or lynching of the king after the 1985 storm. But these days when things aren't up to technological-connivence-speed ( like restless waiting for the iphone app to show us the way home) people tend to tire quickly and grab their pitch forks. Kind of like the recent election. Pandora's box has been opened and pretty soon we will want a snow plow map on our ipads to see when they will be by our place.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08645629430659310315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-84103068511786187542010-11-11T10:55:30.709-08:002010-11-11T10:55:30.709-08:00It seems like we are way to concerned with our abi...It seems like we are way to concerned with our ability to drive places. When it snows in Seattle its usually an episode that lasts a day or two. Why so much concern about it being easy to drive on those days? I think we whine about this issue a bit excessively. Our lives are pretty easy if snow only makes us worry about driving conditions and not things like, staying warm, will the water run and do we have enough food for this winter? It really seems like there are more important issues for people to get all excited about.Steven Breyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07571209321130218979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-42670245227385826442010-11-11T10:25:24.581-08:002010-11-11T10:25:24.581-08:00I grew up in New York City, where snowplows are si...I grew up in New York City, where snowplows are simply affixed to the front of garbage trucks and turned loose to plow. I've always wondered why Seattle doesn't do something like that to supplement the number of available plows. Is it that hard to co-ordinate between SDOT and Seattle Public Utilities?LarryBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845411242454574108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-26464308554170862342010-11-11T09:20:32.860-08:002010-11-11T09:20:32.860-08:00The articulated coaches manage the snow quite well...The articulated coaches manage the snow quite well if their center dual tires are chained as well. I have driven them in snowy conditions. Metro's biggest mistake two years ago was sending many buses out without chains even with snow already on the ground. Metro still neglects to train their operators how to drive in the snow as well as inform passengers how to ride in the snow (don't expect curb service, don't wait on a hill.) Metro has fixed some of the mistakes made previously, but they still have several more they need to rethink.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08289846242300780753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-90553743027489738682010-11-11T09:16:45.813-08:002010-11-11T09:16:45.813-08:00bummer....there was some epic sledding opportuniti...bummer....there was some epic sledding opportunities in Seattle last winter.drexnefexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01952122769044155727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-69131994834890396122010-11-11T09:02:59.385-08:002010-11-11T09:02:59.385-08:00Since these events are relatively rare, education ...Since these events are relatively rare, education of the public is key. First and foremost, a simple (color) scale needs to be used to define the different levels of serverity. For example:<br /> Code Yellow - Caution. Prepare.<br /> Code Orange - Take Action. Minor changes to city operation.<br /> Code Red - Emergency. Drastic changes to city operation.<br />This will keep everyone on the same page and avoid comparing apples to oranges (ice vs snow).AtlantaWxGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08283333653436477658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-85312251126906368492010-11-11T08:19:13.808-08:002010-11-11T08:19:13.808-08:00I can't tell from the map, but I'm hoping ...I can't tell from the map, but I'm hoping that First Hill gets special attention in the case of a heavy snow. I snow-shoed to work at one of the hospitals, but most of my coworkers were not so lucky. Due to the Code Delta (Disaster) status, they were required to spend several days working >12 hour shifts and to stay the night on cots in auditoriums and un-used back hallways in order to maintain safe staffing levels.d33annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11839055752493384875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-6110246303941243882010-11-11T08:00:35.247-08:002010-11-11T08:00:35.247-08:00I remember 1985! I almost ended up in the ditch o...I remember 1985! I almost ended up in the ditch on my way home from work with my 2 small children (ages 2 & 3) in the back seat. It was such a treacherous drive home I called in and said I was not coming to work the next morning...I wasn't willing to take the chance. It had barely begun to snow...they were going to fire me. Needless to say, later that afternoon, I received a call from my manager...He wanted to apologize for his reaction that morning. By the time he called we had over a foot of snow on the ground! By the time it was done snowing we had 2 feet!windloverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06944033579068806230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-65100120425399289342010-11-11T07:36:44.210-08:002010-11-11T07:36:44.210-08:00Metro also needs to close bus stops which are on h...Metro also needs to close bus stops which are on hills. The buses can make it up hills just fine-- as long as they don't stop to pick people up! A simple sign: Walk to the nearest stop on level ground ---><br /><br />and now for a more radical idea: pump seawater out of Elliott Bay into tanker trucks and spray it on the roads. Free salt! And maybe a little plankton too.S I G N A L I U Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12608491324607623354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-82498806467806193842010-11-11T06:17:18.849-08:002010-11-11T06:17:18.849-08:00Aw, no more "dead whales" dangling out o...Aw, no more "dead whales" dangling out over Interstate 5? No more sandy berms to scale in the centers of roads? What a BORE. Kidding...now let's hire about 30 more private snow-plowers to get out there and supplement.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478606652950905956.post-48720438839338952342010-11-11T05:31:53.493-08:002010-11-11T05:31:53.493-08:00It certainly sounds like they are better prepared....It certainly sounds like they are better prepared. To me it sounds like they have thought out the plan. If I am not mistaken they did a dry run for the plows <br /><br />But citizens need to prep too.<br /><br />They need to know their emergency bus route BEFORE the issue strikes. Metro need to advise, and people need to listen and think. <br /><br />They need to stage their car so they can potentially drive without getting up a beastly hill from their house. I lived on Magnolia for years and would park on Thorndyke and walk to my house. I never had to deal with the super steep hill. I easily got from their to Capitol Hill for workUpupaepopshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05840292738185134371noreply@blogger.com