The excitement on the Weather Channel over this 'gigantic' storm coming is breathless

[DainBramaged]

I would think creating panic over the weather would be a no no, but the two people on right now are simply idiots. "2100 MILES could get an inch or more, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!"

[lunatica]

1. If your tool is a hammer everything you see is a nail

Same for Meteorologists. Big disastrous weather is what they live for.

[hobbit709]

2. The weather guys like to go with worst case scenario every time.

Our local clown one time kept going on about the HARD freeze coming that night. How we should wrap our pipes, bring the pets and plants indoors, etc. In the very next sentence he forecast a low of 34°.

[Orrex]

5. Yeah. One of the Pittsburgh stations has a "Severe Weather Center"

Every forecast comes from the "Severe Weather Center," even when it's 72ºF and raining lightly.

[LibDemAlways]

31. A friend who works in tv news says management

requires reporters to stand in the rain without an umbrella so as to look as wet as possible when a storm hits So Calif. Never miss an opportunity to hype unusual weather.

[NutmegYankee]

3. There is no panic in Connecticut.

Just sighs or screams of "Not more F'in Snow!"

[KharmaTrain]

4. Typical...

We joke about it around here. Any time it snows all the teevee stations fall over themselves to predict the worst. They get people into their ENG trucks racing for the first trace of snow and that's "breaking news". But then I guess it beats the endless boring restaurant reviews and 'health' reports...on most nights 25 out of the 35 minutes is anything but news.

Last night there were predictions of 20 plus inches headed my way. Fine. Got gas for the snowblower, plenty of food around the house and we'll deal with what comes just like we do with any snowstorm. I've been through the "worst"...it's a known commodity around here that it snows during the winter. Who woulda thunk?

On the other hand, might not be a bad thing to scare people off the roads...no matter if its a half inch or 25 inches, snow and ice bring the stupid out in drivers....

[Vinca]

6. An inch? An inch is only a reminder of winter.

I'm sitting here in NH looking out windows that are half covered by piles of snow.

[Inuca]

40. An inch of ICE, it's different

likely power outages, very dangerous road conditions, etc. That's what I am looking at, and I don't like it.

[Vinca]

41. Sorry. You're right. An inch of ice is a nightmare.

[jbnow]

45. Ice very different. Only good thing about ice storms is it reminds me

of Robert Frost poem I learned as a child. Catchy, never forgot it
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

OK, I guess it isn't a very cheery poem
but ice always recalls it

[melm00se]

7. for those of us who live

where snow is a regular occurrence tend to forget that for many places an inch of snow is a disaster.

I used to think like you "phhhft! an inch? a freaking inch and the world ends?" until I moved down south.

an inch of snow can be a disaster here as something happens here that doesn't happen up north:

snow falls
it hits and sticks
the sun comes out and the snow starts to melt
then the sun goes down and all the partially melted snow freezes

I don't care if you are the most experienced winter weather driver in extant. glare ice is for ice skating not driving.

A lot of places south of the Mason-Dixon line have minimal road salt and snow removal equipment, plus Bubba can't drive in the snow. its just that simple.

So an inch can bring places to a complete halt.

[w8liftinglady]

25. I can vouch for that. 4 inches of snow in texas was a disaster last year

i grew up in Ct, Wi and Md where snow was common.
In Texas it is such a rarity that people literally can not function.

I guess the best comparison I can make is tornados.
I understand every state has had one,but here we are used to them and know how to react.

[eShirl]

29. that's because municipalities don't own the same snow removal equipment down south

Mainer here, took a southern route to drive to California one year after Xmas, through Texas thinking to avoid any snowstorms... BLAM 8-10 inches. Up here that's not a big problem because the crews make the roads driveable so much more quickly.

[gkhouston]

26. Very true. I was amazed at how much havoc an inch of snow could cause when I lived in DC.

I'll never forget the time the forecast was for half an inch and we got ten! :rofl:

[eShirl]

30. we get that up north too, alright... nothing strikes fear quite like the phrase "black ice"

you are right that we have the equipment and salt to take care of it more quickly

[notadmblnd]

8. They've been generating fear over the weather for years

now if a drop of rain falls people think we're having a hurricane.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. What is getting me ill is the CONSTANCY of these storms...The old snow does not go away, and we

get more. There are mountains of snow all voer the place, where it has been plowed up in HUGE piles. There is no place to park...and once you dig out your car and move it, the spot is gone before you can move 10 feet..then you are left with no place to park when you come back. Either cars are parked forever,or people put traffic cones, garbage cans or even furniture in the parking spots and dare anyone to take the spot.

It is depressing and frustrating...and I have had enough of this to last me the rest of my life... NYC is just not equipped to handle this amount of snow. There is no place to put it, even when they do come around with plows and move it so one can drive. And the temps have not gone high enough for any significant melting...and when there is some melting,the temps drip at night and freeze it all up...making things even worse.

End of :rant:

[GreenPartyVoter]

51. Spring melt is really gonna be something this year.

[BrklynLiberal]

52. You got that right!! I can see it taking until June for all this to melt.

and we are getting an ice storm tonight and tomorrow...

[Urban Prairie]

10. I love our local intreped "storm team" of weather reporters

out "braving the elements" for several minutes, just to show us a piddling 2-3" ongoing snowfall, and clearing a small space on a sidewalk with a tiny plastic shovel to prove how "deep" it is...wow...haha...what a joke!! Most of 'em, if not all, likely don't even shovel their own snow at home, and the only effect that snow has on them is driving their personal vehicle to and from the local TV station, and walking from their news station's SUVs and back when outdoors.

I don't remember such over-the-top sensationalizing of what is considered normal winter weather in these parts, for this time of year, back in the 60s-80s. A foot or more being forecast and actually happening is fairly unusual in SE MI, (and we rarely, if ever, actually have that much or more fall in just one storm if it is predicted) but less than that most certainly isn't uncommon.

If there is ever a foot or more of snow on the ground here, it is almost always the result of several storms, and not just one. For whatever reason, the area that I have lived in for most of my life here, always receives the lowest amount of snow totals over the past 50+ winters, than the rest of the entire state of MI.

[Gaedel]

16. You know, it is funny

I grew up in Detroit and SE Michigan in the 1940s and 1950s. We had more snow then than they do now (first snow between Thanksgiving and Christmas would cover the ground and we wouldn't see the grass again till March). We never had 4-wheel drives. We rarely got stuck.

When I lived in the Virginia suburbs of DC, an inch or two of snow was chaos. Six inches and I was always getting stuck.

The fact that SE Michigan has the topography of a billiard table and wasn't too crowded while NoVa is cut up with a series of ridges where the little creeks run down to the Potomac and traffic is grid lock has something to do with it.

[Pathwalker]

11. Note to self: must buy plow man more vodka.

PS: They're also predicting an inch of ice for some places, and regardless of where you live, that will fuck up your world for awhile. We're supposed to get 12"-18" of snow.

[Le Taz Hot]

12. Well, at least they can find you guys.

The West Coast gets like 20 seconds worth of coverage and we get 25 minutes of "it's winter and snowing in New York and the midwest." California only consists of 2 cities: San Francisco and Los Angeles and they're always "sunny and warm" even when they aren't. Sorry, it's just a pet peeve of mine.

[MineralMan]

13. Even here in Minnesota,

the local news readers get all excited about snow. Endless freeway cam views of cars in the ditch and so on. We're headed for a record snowfall year here in the Twin Cities, but it all just means more snow removal than in another year. It's not as though we don't do this every winter.

[Odin2005]

18. To be fair, the weather here in the last 4 years has been nuts

[MineralMan]

23. I don't really have a long enough perspective, since I've only

lived here for six years. Certainly, this year is pretty amazing, and the spring thawing is going to cause a bunch of flooding, it seems. Never a dull moment.

I'm not looking forward to firing up the snowblower this afternoon, either. But, further south, it's going to be even worse, I understand.

[SoCalDem]

14. Time to crank up the Super-Mega Doppler Storm-Tracker 8000

and plant people wearing mukluks & earflap hats all over..oh and give them yardsticks & styrofoam cups so they can toss water into the air & show us how it freezes

[Bonhomme Richard]

15. We call it WeatherPorn. n/t

[snappyturtle]

24. I think your term of WeatherPorn is funny but if the weather people

didn't report the worst case scenario and it came to be, people would blame them for the lack of adequate warning. I lived alone in northern MN for 15 years in the Chippewa Nat'l. Forest so I know about hand to hand combat with these monsterous storms. They can be dangerous and people need to be prepared especially with the wind that is forecasted producing whiteouts. Rarely, did we back then make national news unless it was -60F. and then a few brave reporters from the Twin Cities would show up with stories of eggs dropped from waist height shattering when they hit the ground.

I'm getting ready here...nw Indiana. I am the caretaker for my 94 yr. old mom. The only fear of mine is loss of power. I love snow so I will be camera ready too!

[Odin2005]

17. LOL, us folks in Fargo just yawn at stories of apocalyptic weather.

We ALWAYS have crazy weather. And we have had 2 floods of biblical proportions in the last 15 years. Nothing surprises up any more.

[cbdo2007]

19. Every time I turn on the news in Kansas City they up the amount of snow we're going to get.

[Fuddnik]

20. Snowy conditions proving hazardous for nations idiots!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/snowy-conditions-proving-hazardous-for-nations-idi,18705/

[trumad]

21. Try living in Florida...

Every rain storm is a super cell...

Fear Sells.

[madmom]

22. I went in last evening to get some groceries before the panic buying started today ( mine was

not panic buying, I really needed groceries)the shelves were already bare. :eyes:

[gkhouston]

27. Let me guess... bread, eggs, and milk? I always imagine people having French toast parties. n/t

[madmom]

33. LOL actually the most empty was t-paper and RICE. I love rice and all I could fine was

white minute rice(BLA). I found that a little weird.

[gkhouston]

43. That is strange. I wonder if we're going to have another round of "OMG, there's a rice shortage!"

news stories.

[TwilightGardener]

28. OVERWHELMING ARCTIC BLAST!! YOU WILL BE SORRY YOU WERE EVER BORN!!1!1!

That's basically what my local news has been saying. Assholes.

[DainBramaged]

32. With over two feet of snow still unmelted around here, an inch is removable with a broom

I was amazed at how the two bobble heads this morning were making like Noah was building a snow mobile to take the animals to South America or someplace warm.


The videos are a scream

http://www.weather.com/outlook/videos/todays-top-forecast-4276?link=most_recent#19518

[TwilightGardener]

35. LOL--"Frantic shoppers! Supplies FLYING off shelves!" Because if you're not frantic, we haven't

done our job.

[DainBramaged]

37. Was that amazing, and that little bag of ice melt, she probably paid $5

[nc4bo]

34. I bet TWC makes a bank load everytime a weatherterra is issued.

Even the dang weather isn't immune to capitalism. I'm surprised someone isn't trying to purposely manipulate the weather to make some kind of profit somewhere down the road.

oh wait...

[snooper2]

36. And all 614 people watching the weather panel shat their pants

:rofl:

[Lucian]

38. It's so annoying.

We had plenty of thunderstorms here in MN last summer and the local meteorologists always freaked out and kept up with the continuing coverage of the storm just in case it went severe. Most of the time it didn't. They freak out over nothing.

[LLStarks]

39. weather.gov | NUFF SAID nt

[bobbolink]

42. I'm really glad to know they are showing so much concern for homeless people.

[cbdo2007]

47. They can't stop the weather.

[bobbolink]

48. what a ......warm thought.

?

[sufrommich]

49. It's the Weather Channel. What do you expect them to do about

homeless people?

[bobbolink]

50. What do I expect? Absolutely NOTHING.

[neverforget]

44. The Simpson's episode "Lisa on Ice" covers this breathless coverage well

http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F05.html

Announcer: It's "Channel Six Action News."

Bart: Ah, Action News. The last place an impressionable kid can
go for TV violence.
Announcer: And now, here's your Action Anchor, Kent Brockman.
Kent: Hello, I'm Kent Brockman! Our top
stories tonight: a tremendous _explosion_ in the price of
lumber, President Reagan _dyes_...his hair, plus Garry
Trudeau and his new musical comedy revue. But first! Let's
check the death count from the killer storm bearing down on
us like a shotgun full of snow.
Weatherman: Well, Kent, as of now the death count is zero. But it _is_
ready to shoot right up.
Kent: Oh my God. Damn you snow!
-- Doing what's needed for ratings, "Lisa on Ice"

Bart is jubilant upon hearing of the snowstorm.

Bart: All right! Snow day. No school tomorrow! schoolbook on the fire]
Lisa: That doesn't mean you don't have to do your book report.
What if the weatherman is wrong?
Bart: Lisa, that man is a professional meteorologist.
Weatherman: Kent, I'd like to remind everybody to come down and watch me
at the Springfield Laff'N'Brew, and burgers and fries this
Saturday. The forecast calls for a 75% chance of hilarity!
Homer: I like those odds...
-- Professional barbequer too, "Lisa on Ice"

The next morning at seven o'clock, Bart sleeps peacefully in bed when
Lisa throws open his door and yells "Snowball fight!" Bart wakes up
groggily, only to be pounded in the face with a ball of snow. Lisa
chuckles unkindly, then takes off with Bart in hot pursuit. She runs
out the front door.

Bart: You're going to eat a blizzard of... unseasonable
warmth?
Lisa: I made the snowball from the frost in our freezer!

Jimbo: Nice PJs, Simpson. Did your mommy buy 'em for ya?
Bart: Of course she did. Who else would have?
Jimbo: All right, Simpson, you win _this_ round.
-- I know you are, but what am I?, "Lisa on Ice"

[JVS]

46. It's the Weather Channel. This is their kind of thing.