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Winter weather makes untimely appearance
Published Saturday, March 8, 2008
NATCHEZ — When scattered snowflakes began to fall Friday evening, the fact that they were falling at all was noteworthy.
“It’s every four or five years we get a little bit of snow in southern Mississippi in March,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist and Forecaster Brad Bryant. “It’s mostly trace amounts that didn’t accumulate. It doesn’t happen very often but it’s not unheard of.”
The last time that is snowed enough in southern Mississippi that it accumulated on the ground in March was in 1993.
“That was a pretty irregular event,” Bryant said.
In fact, it has only snowed enough to accumulate on the ground in March three times since records were started being kept in Jackson in 1893.
Any snow that was expected tapered off late Friday night, and today the National Weather Service is predicting clouds with temperatures in the mid-40s with lows around freezing tonight.
By Sunday, however, the weather should warm to a high of 67 degrees.
Director of Natchez Pilgrimage Tours Jim Coy said he doesn’t know that it has ever snowed, if only for a moment, for Spring Pilgrimage.
And he said he doesn’t expect the cold weather to affect pilgrimage one way or the other.
“We have been through the tech crash, the aftermath of Sept. 11 and the highest gas prices anyone has ever seen, and people have always come” Coy said. “I think the attraction of what Pilgrimage does — what it is — will always be strong and will bring people.”
If there is ice on the roads, drivers should avoid braking quickly, should decrease their speed in case they need to stop quickly, should avoid using cruise control and should leave their lights on to increase their visibility.
Comments
Posted by dangyankee (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 1:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You forgot the best "if there is ice on the roads" tip: Stay the heck OFF the roads! I know you can't always do that.
Story from a particularly snowy Kansas City winter, quite a while back: I was commuting from my "northtown" home to my "midtown" job, around 6:30 a.m. The snow was coming down in bunches, the roads were covered with the stuff, at least 3 to 4 inches worth. The radio was on and the station was taking callers. A woman came on: "All you people in SUVs? Yes, you can GO in this stuff. But you can't STOP!" She was right, of course, but I guess most of the SUV-drivers out there with us were not really paying attention.
Lot of wrecks that morning, a lot of them involving 4-wheel-drive vehicles, most of which probably could have been avoided if people had put their egos ("My truck is faster than your car!) aside.
Point of all this? Take care, and be courteous. Thinking just once in a little while about your "common man" or neighbor, and how your actions might affect him (or her), might actually save your life someday.
Posted by xlleggs (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 1:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with you, DY....Best advice..... Stay OFF the roads.
Posted by crystal0429 (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 9:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The ND forgot to mention when it snowed on January 19, 2008! Man, snow two times in a year, we are rating!
Posted by jaayden (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 10:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
crystal0429...just making up for lost time. It's been too many years without snow. Gotta catch up whenever we can, lol....
Posted by ntzgurlwithclass (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 10:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Cold Cold go away !!! My daughter is out of school for Spring Break and she wants to enjoy the great outdoors. Long as she is out of my way after I get off work. I hate this Mississippi weather. It is so unpredictable.
Posted by sayitloud (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 6:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
true dat!
Posted by Roy (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 6:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What ever happen to global warming?
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on March 8, 2008 at 8:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't believe in global warming. There have always been natural flucuations in the earths weather. "Global Warming" is just another scare tactic of some of those conspiracy theorists!
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