NBC's Al Roker challenges Bill de Blasio for leaving schools open amid heavy snow
+ READ ARTICLENBC’s Today Show weather man Al Roker is not pleased with New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to leave the city’s schools open today with fierce winter weather bearing down on the city and he took to Twitter to voice his objections.
That set off a flurry of tweets from Roker, who is presently in Sochi (high today of 64 degrees Fahrenheit, if you’re curious), criticizing the mayor’s response to the winter storm.
“So now my daughter’s NYC public school is being let out early,” Roker said. “@NYCMayorsOffice @NYCSchools Is it worth putting kids’ safety at risk?” Roker played his weather-man credentials, saying it was clear that a serious winter event was coming and schools should have been closed. Roker went on to raise the stakes on the spat, issuing his own prediction for de Blasio’s political fortunes. “Long range DiBlasio forecast: 1 term,” he said.
Eventually, de Blasio shot back, saying he wasn’t basing public health decisions on Roker’s Today Show forecast, The Daily News reports. “The one I respect the most is called the National Weather Service,” he said.
“I respect Al Roker. I watch him on TV,” he said. “Its different thing to run a city than to give weather on TV.”
Roker had his own response to that.