Another Use for Twitter

I originally gave my opinion on Twitter back in 2010. Recently I started using Twitter in earnest. While I do not see value in following narcissistic celebrities, it is incredibly helpful for local governments. California is getting hit with a large number of storms this winter and most of those storms have found their way to Utah. Fortunately we have the infrastructure to handle all of the snow but that means doing a lot of avalanche mitigation.

To keep avalanches from blocking roads, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) follows similar protocols to ski areas. They leverage explosive concussions to trigger small slides so they never get large. When the snow sits above a road, they close it, set off explosions, and then clean up before allowing cars back on the road. Fortunately we have weather forecasting and UDOT will send out a Tweet the night before they close the road. Then us skiers watch Twitter for updates as to when the road will open so we can get up to the ski areas.

Most of the time UDOT opens roads around the time they predicted the night before. Sometimes they have to push the estimated opening because an avalanche crossed the road and requires more cleanup than originally anticipated. We have had a few days this year where the road didn't open until after noon.

One would think that staying up at the ski areas would allow for spectacular skiing without crowds because of closed roads. Unfortunately that isn't always the case. If it is too dangerous to be on the road, it is often too dangerous to be outside and so people will be interlodged, or stuck inside, until it is safe to open the roads again. How do you find out when the interlodge is lifted? You guessed it: Twitter.

Too Much Snow

Is there such a thing as too much snow for a skier? The answer is YES. Today happened to be one of those days where we got too much snow in a single day.

This morning it started snowing at around 6 am. By the time my daughter got in the car to head up to Alta where they needed her to teach ski lessons, we had over an inch in the front yard. I got up and got ready to go with my wife and son and had to clean the driveway again. That means the snow was falling at around 2 inches per hour. We got close to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon when the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) closed it because of avalanche danger. With no expected opening time, we turned around and came home.

I got rather grumpy because I didn't get to go skiing today. My son, wife, and I did take the chance to practice with our avalanche beacons and probes so that we will be ready to use them should that become necessary (I sure hope not). Little did I know that my adventure with the snow had only just begun.

While I had made it home safely I still had my daughter up at Alta and I worried about her safe return. The avalanche danger got so bad that the resorts closed just after noon. That means there is a serious problem as ski resorts never close because of too much snow. While the road closed to all uphill traffic, they opened it to those headed down. Then a natural avalanche let loose and came across the road closing it to everyone. My daughter had made it from Alta down to Snowbird before being diverted off the road and into a parking lot. She then got directed into a concrete structure built to withstand an avalanche direct hit. There she waited for 4 hours.

The whole time my daughter waited to get down from the ski resort, I kept checking all of the technology available to me. UDOT actively tweeted about road conditions around the state and every once and a while would mention Little Cottonwood Canyon. They also have a great website where you can click on video cameras located on a map to get a picture of the traffic at that location. When my daughter would text me with information about where she was in the canyon, I could look at the video cameras and at least see cars on the road. If there weren't any, then the road was still closed.

Over 12 hours after leaving home this morning, my daughter finally pulled our trusty Jeep into the garage. The storm total for that 12-hour period? 23 inches, which turns out to be about 2 inches an hour. Yes, there can be such a thing as too much snow for a skier . . . but it is very rare.

Instagram and Social Media

I know it sounds kind of weird when I say that I am not a big fan of social media. It probably sounds even more strange when I write it in a blog as a blog is a form of social media. There are a number of different social media tools though and it is some of those other tools that I think are unworthy of my time.

One of the Monday morning regulars that I fly with from Salt Lake City to the Bay Area was telling me about how his daughter's weekend was ruined by Instagram. I am not much of a photographer and don't feel the need to post pictures of my various events for people to see and so I must confess that I disliked Instagram even before I heard his story.

My friend's preteen daughter was busy this weekend with soccer games and missed out on getting an invite to a party. The next day she checked into Instagram and saw all sorts of pictures of her friends having a good time without her. It was devastating to her self-esteem. My friend had to sit down with his daughter and comfort her. I didn't get the details of what he said but he did mention that social media has gotten out of control. I agree with him. My takeaway from his story was that his daughter got out of the house and actually did something worthy of her time by playing soccer.

While I may think that social media tools like Instagram and Facebook are a waste of time, there are some benefits they do provide. Last Friday we were at work watching the Mavericks Invitational that came about because of Twitter.  My understanding is that on Monday the weather was predicted to be perfect for the event on Friday and so everyone leveraged Twitter to organize the event and get the competitors in place.

I think the important thing to remember with social media is true with anything we find desirable: moderation. While a jelly doughnut tastes good, too many of them will have you looking like the Michelin man. Furthermore you may think you were the life of the party and want everyone to bask in your glory but reality is you probably look like a dork . . . and if you have been eating all of the hors d'oeuvres, the Michelin man too.

A Case For Twitter

I have never been a fan of Twitter until now. I have always thought it stupid that the public would waste time following celebrities 140 characters at a time. I still feel the same way, however, recently I have seen some legitimate uses for the service.

At the end of September, there was a fire in Herriman, Utah. It became known as the Machine Gun Fire because it was started by practice rounds at a National Guard firing range. The dry grass and high winds caused the fire to spread rapidly and endanger many homes. Naturally the cell phone service in the area quickly became overwhelmed as people tried to check on loved ones and news media tried to inform the public. It was interesting to watch the news and see the news try to explain what was happening while anyone in the Salt Lake area could see the massive fires burning on the hillside.

In the end, the residents were evacuated with the help of reverse 911 (where the local government sends a message to every home in the area). A second tool that was incredibly helpful for sending information was Twitter. The news outlest and residents could get up-to-date information simply by logging onto Twitter.

Fast forward to this Thanksgiving weekend and Utah was supposed to have a major blizzard blanket the area on Tuesday. The massive storm turned out to be a dud. Then it started snowing Sunday morning at 3am. I got up and shovelled the walks. It continued snowing all day, through the night, and didn't let up until today. When I left for the airport this morning to catch my flight back to California, there was two feet of snow in my front yard. I had to shovel the walks again. Naturally there was the question of if the kids had school.

We turned on the TV, but there wasn't any news about school closures. We turned on the radio, but all they wanted to do was play songs. We even turned on a computer and checked if there was any news. The first place my wife visited was the superintendant's Twitter feed and it said something along the lines of "Thanks to our diligent staff, parking lots are cleared and school will be held."

While most kids would be disappointed to discover that school was still being held, mine breathed a sigh of relief. They know that a day off today just means a day taken away from their Spring break. It is amazing how such a small message was the information needed to continue the day's activities.