The National Weather Service (NWS) does not officially use the Waffle House Index to forecast weather, but the federal emergency officials certainly do.
One of the things the feds do which actually makes sense is they pay attention to experienced local knowledge. Most likely because they have been embarrassed too many times over the years.
"Our scientists say..." announced the feds only to be made fools of by Farmer Joe's bunions or the local water witcher's trick knee.
Actually regarding the North River the local (now gone) Coast Guard station used to tell people that local knowledge was the best source of information for people navigating the river.
The Waffle House index seems to be a pretty good source of local weather information. They have a well earned reputation of toughing out bad weather and staying open. They also have a company index.
Green, full operations. Yellow means limited operations and red means closed. Closed generally means the place has pretty much been destroyed and can't even provide shelter.
Closed ahead of time means that the storm is pretty much going to render the place heavily damaged. While like anything else that's not a guarantee that a storm is going to tear the place up it's a pretty good indicator of truly nasty weather.
Waffle House also has a pretty good humanitarian record of providing food and shelter during bad weather.
For all of the jokes, laughter, brawl videos etc. and the reputation of being a circus the place quietly shares a reputation for humanitarian service.
It's about as legitimate of a weather indicator as anything else the government provides.
I'd eat there if there was one nearer to home.
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