Thursday, February 11, 2010

Snow Storm Wrap Up

Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday we were inundated with panicked news reports about the massive snow storm we were going to get slammed with all day Wednesday into Thursday morning.

The snow was supposed to start accumulating by noon. When noon came it was snowing but not sticking.

We were supposed to have a couple of inches by 3:00pm. When 3:00pm came it was snowing but not sticking.

By the time the evening commute started it was supposed to be a white out with high winds and many inches of snow. The drive home was going to be treacherous with terrible road conditions and danger everywhere. When the commute came it was snowing but not sticking. I made it home in near record time.

The snow was supposed to continue piling up until after midnight and the total accumulation in Methuen, in the region of Eastern Massachusetts that was going to have the easiest time, was supposed to be about half a foot. When we got up this morning there was no snow on the ground, which was exactly how it looked when we went to bed.

To put it plainly, the local weather reporters whipped us into a panicked frenzy over this fearsome storm (the Governor of Massachusetts actually told people to stay home yesterday and some groups in my company were telling people to leave the office and telecommute from home by noon) and were 100% wrong in all of their predictions.

The channel seven weatherman told his twitter followers that they screwed up. The channel 25 weatherwoman went on the air this morning with a paper bag over her head.

Yes, they dropped the ball. Yes, the panic for most of the state was unnecessary. Yes, they should be ashamed of themselves.

But...

At least this screw up was beneficial to most of us. It could have been the opposite. They could have predicted sun and clear skies only to have reality dish us six feet of wet snow. When you look at it from that point of view suddenly their screw up doesn't seem so bad.

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