A few things about the storm:

– Joel Myers, the founder of AccuWeather, had one motto about dealing with the public as a forecaster: “one blown forecast eliminates 20 good ones in the public mind.” This, in relation to public safety, remains true. I say this because so many people online in the blizzard’s path were quite confident in “that one time they got that one storm wrong” as undeniable proof that there would be no storm. Unfortunately, this idea probably resulted, based on research, in at least half of the deaths during Sandy because of what was viewed as a bad forecast with Irene. However, this idea is hard to pry out of people’s heads.

– This storm doesn’t do shit to disprove climate change, and in fact, meteorologists in forums I follow were speculating on this storm’s bombing out as partially due to climate change. That will require post-mortem research, as this storm will definitely make the list as historic. That leads me to…

– This storm is proof that if you live in NYC, Philly, Boston, etc., climate change does not mean that you will never see another snowstorm. Some believe this, but it was never anything that professional climate researchers believed. You will still get cold winters and snowstorms, just not as often.

And again, sometimes that will mean the storm is worse. This is impressive:

One of the more impressive snow bands that I’ve ever seen for a New England blizzard!

— Greg Porter (@gporterwx.bsky.social) 2026-02-23T16:09:17.073Z

– All storms have places where the forecast busts on the fringe, but for the main areas, overall, this was a pretty good forecast. I know that for some, it is VITAL that this isn’t true because “the weather forecast is always wrong” is a holy, sacred belief. But overall, a blizzard did indeed happen.

– I don’t get the knee-jerk dismissive reactions I see online to these kinds of storms. Yeah, the hype can be a bit much, but these storms have real, immediate, and long-term impacts! Flights are canceled, roads are closed, power is out, homes are damaged, etc. Plus, clearing a lot of snow in places that got it can be a big deal for people, especially the elderly! People lose their lives, too. Not to mention the long-term economic effects, and God help you if you are the mayor of a city hit by the storm and don’t clear the streets on time.

– That said, what gets dismissed as hype and fearmongering is often nothing more than requests to stay home and out of danger, and not end up in a ditch where you add to the first responder burden and, yeah, put yourself in danger. That’s all. Those of us who communicate weather risks in a fact-based manner, both professionally and just me posting on social media about it, want to make sure people are safe. Being safe just means reading a book, watching a show, taking a nap, working on a project, etc.