Al Roker and other meteorologists are blasting New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for not closing schools during the heavy winter storm. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
The nation's best known weather forecasters took aim at New York City's new mayor today on live TV.
Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed he kept schools open in Thursday's snow storm because of an inaccurate forecast.
He explained, “We had an accumulation of roughly five to eight inches by the end of the morning rush hour and that was heavier and faster than the weather service had predicted.”
His decision meant that students in the nation's largest school system had to struggle in extreme conditions.
See What NYC Parents and Kids Had To Say About School Staying Open!
Good Morning America's Ginger Zee proved the mayor wrong. In an interview, it was said, “When politicians take heat, blame the forecasters.”
Zee responded, “It’s amazing to me, but I’d like to show it because the National Weather Service at 5 p.m. on Wednesday put up this map, I want to show you. Ten to fourteen inches is what they had for Manhattan and the timing said that the morning commute would be treacherous.”
The Today show's Al Roker, covering the winter Olympics in Sochi, tweeted: “Long range DiBlasio forecast: 1 term.”
Roker apologized for that today, but continued the spat. He admitted, “That was a little below the line, but everything else I still stand by, including the fact that the National Weather Service did forecast that on Wednesday!”
De Blasio hit back, saying, “I respect Al Roker a lot. I've watched him on TV for many many years. It's a different thing to run a city than to give the weather on TV.”
Millions of people are braving rivers of slush in the aftermath of the storm that barreled across the USA. There were lakes of snowmelt everywhere and pedestrians took quite a soaking when they crossed the street.
INSIDE EDITION’s Les Trent explained, “Navigating the city the day after the big storm is kind of like a triathlon. You have to avoid getting splashed, first of all, then you want to jump over the puddles as you cross the street and, you’re going to try, of course, to not to slip and slide and fall on your butt.”
Kelly Ripa also had to deal with the mess going to work. She exclaimed, “The water came up over my rain boots and into my pants. I’m a little upset about it!”
Some did their best to enjoy the nasty weather. Three hundred students at the University of Tennessee sneaked into the stadium for a midnight snowball fight.
One man even found a unique way to get through the mess-- snowboarding behind a truck! Do we have to tell you? Don't try this at home!
