
THE SIGNALS WE USE
ON THE FRONT PAGE:

Green Light!
No explanation needed. |

Caution Light!
The weather may or may not cooperate. Check back
frequently for updates. |

Red Light!
An obvious sign that the weather didn't cooperate.
Posted as soon as we can make an educated call. |

|
Nobody
knows better than we that a cancelled cruise means a lot of
disappointed
people, spectators and cruisers alike. But when we do cancel it's
not just a flip
decision or one made without any in-depth forethought. There are many
issues to consider
and we thought we would try to explain it all here so you could
understand our
logic and methods when making this judgment call.
WHY WE CANCEL:
Obviously no one wants to be out in the rain, especially with classics
and antiques.
There are also safety factors to consider such as lightning and the
possibility of an
unfortunate accident either coming or going. We are concerned for the
safety and well
being of everyone who attends and sometimes canceling a cruise is the
result.
HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN TO CANCEL?
It's a lengthy process which begins early in the week with weather
observations from
The Weather Channel, Weather.com and local meteorologists. If there is
a weather
threat headed our way that could possibly affect us on a Friday, we
pay closer attention
as the week goes by. If things look fine by Thursday we post the GREEN
LIGHT on the
website, otherwise the CAUTION
LIGHT goes up. If there is absolutely no chance that the
cruise can be held as early as then, we will cancel right away on
Thursday and post the RED
LIGHT.
But here is where it get tricky....on a Friday when the weather could go
either way. During the course of
the day club members keep an eye to the sky and whenever possible
check local weather forecasts.
Fred Loulis, Club Spokesman, gets updates from members who live in
various towns in the area.
My job requires me to travel a great deal across the
western and north-western sections of the state, allowing me to gather additional weather info. Fred and I
are in constant contact via cell phone,
exchanging info and trying to piece together enough info to make the
right call as to cancel or
not. From all the data gathered from the various points of input we
try to make the "cancel" call as early as possible or the
"go" call as late as practical, so cruisers will have enough
time to plan appropriately. In other words we wait as long as
possible to try to get the cruise in based on the latest weather.
On occasion we do make the wrong call. Sometimes a storm that looked
100% positive to hit Monroe
for cruise time makes a last minute course change and swings
away....after we have already posted the
RED
LIGHT and called the radio stations to make announcements.
We also know that 99.9% of our cruisers understand the situation and
know that our goal is for the safety of our attendees and their cars.
We thank them for understanding the nature of what we go
through when it's a possible cancellation night. It's never easy and I
can say on behalf of the entire club that nobody wants to cancel a
cruise less than we do.
Mark Edwards
Classic Nights Car Club Alternate Spokesman |