Off today!
Its a tough call. The lab has ~7000 employees plus ~1500 contractors and I would guess 50% of the total commutes (on a daily basis) from as far away as ABQ (100mi one way). The lab has their own meteorologist on staff. This time of year the team has to make the call by ~5:00AM at the latest. Sometimes its pretty difficult to make.
You have a choice of:
No delay
2 hour delay
Full closure
You can imagine the cost (lost) to close for just one day as its a paid closure so the decision is not made lightly but then you have to factor in safety as well. You tell 8000 people to come to work in an ice or snow storm and have a chain reaction wreck that kills several people and your looking at a huge lawsuit plus criticism that the lab does not take the worker's safety into account, only $$$$.
Then you have the opposite on a day where the snow hits mid morning.
Do you:
Make everyone stay as normal and hope it doesn't get bad or
Early closure
This place was built were it is because of its the remoteness and difficulty in getting here. It was in the middle of the US so pretty hard (impossible) to get to by the Germans or Japanese back in 1941.
It is still just as hard getting out of town today as it was 50 years ago. Basically one road in, one road out. There is another road but that leads directly to the mountains so in Winter its pretty much useless.
If they call an early closure it can take up to 4 hours to get home just if you live in Santa fe (40 miles away). ABQ commuters can have up to a 6 hour commute home in bad weather. Needless to say I live 5 miles from work as living in a big city with all the shopping and cheaper housing is just not worth it this time of year or any time IMHO.
I can't believe the ABQ commuters that spend 3.5-4 hours a day commuting back and forth. Thats just insane but lots of people do it, most are much closer like Santa fe and surrounding communities.
I will take my 5 min commute any day of the year!
