Photo via People Story Corner/Asia Paranormal
Yesterday (December 16th), Astro Radio Traffic tweeted that the bad weather was causing extra delay on a stretch along the MRR2.
Seems normal enough, but the weather in question? Heavy snow!
Understandably, many netizens were left confused as to why there would be snow in Malaysia.
So, let’s clear the air here. (Or, should we say, let’s clear up the snow!)
No, there wasn’t a miracle snowfall in KL yesterday, but it was most likely just heavy rain.
How did we end up with reports of snow? For the most part, Waze generates information through its users called Wazers (that’s referring to any of us who use Waze).
When a Wazer gets stuck in a jam or sees an accident that’s causing heavy traffic, they report it on Waze, and other Wazers would verify the event by liking it or commenting on it.
Traffic was indeed heavy in certain parts of KL yesterday due to rainy weather and flash floods.
Wazers reported of flash floods, but were not able to report heavy rain or downpour, because, well, it’s not yet included in the weather hazard category on Waze in our country.
So, the app’s algorithm presented the next best thing: heavy snow! Wazers stuck in the jam due to the rain wanted to notify others of the weather hazard.
So perhaps when they saw the ‘heavy snow’ option pop-up, it didn’t seem too far-fetched. Either that, or they just thought it’d be funny!
And as algorithms do, it shares the information automatically on Astro Radio Traffic’s Twitter account.
You might be asking yourself, “Well then, what do I report on Waze if there’s heavy rain?”
It’s advised that you simply report it as a weather hazard and include a photo to show that it’s raining. (Of course, only do this if you are the passenger!)
Hopefully the heavy rain/downpour option will be available in Malaysia soon, since it’s a pretty frequent occurrence here.
But until then, if you see @astrotraffic tweet about snow, again, don’t get your winter jackets out just yet, because it’s most likely just heavy rain.
Drive safe and make a snowman!
by Amy Shariffudin
