Special Coverage! Up to 3 Inches of Snow!

[Dr. Whiplash]

From the Columbus Dispatch http://www.dispatch.com

As snow returns, so does hyperbole
Wednesday, December 5, 2007 3:18 AM
By Jeb Phillips

Destruction was supposed to fall from the sky last night. A beautiful blanket of terror. White death. The meteorologists predicted 1 to 3 inches of snow, which might as well have been 1 to 3 inches of rattlesnakes. One to 3 inches of boiling tar.

Television reporters scrambled to the city's salt barn yesterday. A news release came from the Franklin County engineer: "County Snow Fighters Are Ready for First Taste of Winter." Columbus' 122 "snow warriors" spoiled for a fight. With a little luck, they might just destroy the enemy.

WCMH-TV (Channel 4) led yesterday evening's news with team coverage of the impending snow. TV stations were criticized on a local Internet discussion board, Columbus Media Chatter, for overplaying the story. Chris Bradley, chief meteorologist at WBNS-TV (Channel 10), bore the brunt of it.

"When I was a kid, it was, 'Chance of snow tonight and tomorrow morning. One to three inches expected. Drive carefully,' " said one person on the board. "Now every time it snows it's the STORM OF THE CENTURY."

It's hard not to make fun. But it's also true that there will be more accidents this morning than a normal day, said Lt. Karl Barth of the Columbus police traffic bureau. Motorists might have to wait in traffic, and some of those cars might run out of gas. That will make the traffic worse.

Police will begin their shifts early to start working the wrecks. Barth suggests that regular commuters start early, too.

"It's just that people forget how to drive in snow," he said.

That is not so far from what the television stations were saying. It's just that they were saying it differently. One forecaster predicted 1 to 3 inches yesterday, and 10 seconds later, the station's anchor called that "several inches." Maybe 3 inches is technically several inches, but several inches sounds worse.

"There's no question that weather is a big driver of ratings," said Al Tompkins, the broadcast/online group leader for the Poynter Institute, a school for professional journalists based in St. Petersburg, Fla. "During a ratings period, every news director wants a little severe weather." But he also said that viewers will punish a station with lower ratings for being unnecessarily alarmist.

"There's a lot of discussion about not going nuts on weather forecasting and being responsible," he said. "Especially after (Hurricane) Katrina, weather forecasters realize the importance of trying to get it right."

Mike Davis, a WBNS meteorologist, said he went so far yesterday as to try to intentionally use the phrase snow showers instead of snowstorm. Little details can influence how people interpret the forecast, he said.

"It's always amazed me that I can go to my local Kroger and people are buying milk and bread," he said, and the store employees ask him what he said on television to get such a response. "One to 3 inches is not a big deal," he said. "I mean, technically it might be a storm, but it's not the blizzard of '78."

[Hoosier Daddy]

"When I was a kid, it was, 'Chance of snow tonight and tomorrow morning. One to three inches expected. Drive carefully,' " said one person on the board. "Now every time it snows it's the STORM OF THE CENTURY.

The aforementioned silliness has become a hallmark of Columbus television news. You'll see the same hyperbole in news reports of shootings, stabbings, and murders; as if the Columbus news media is actually happy they often lead the state in homocides. "We've Arrived!!! Columbus is just like Detroit and Chicago and Pittsburgh and Washington D.C. with all this violence and death!!! We're really REALLY, REALLY a Big City and not a cow town anymore!!!!!!!!

[Big Media]

Indeed. The sad reality is that the media frenzy is gobbled up like cheerios by the viewing public. Upon seeing said frenzy, they run to Wal-Marts (intentionally plural because that's what hill folk call it), and purchase enough milk, bread, toilet paper, and yes, cheerios, to supply the USMC for a month.



Related side note: I have a co worker who tunes into the weather channel when she arrives for work and does not turn it off until she leaves.

[fearpeddler]

Related side note: I have a co worker who tunes into the weather channel when she arrives for work and does not turn it off until she leaves.

We all have had one like that at one point or another.

[Dave Allen]

Actually we hill folks call it "Wal-Marks".

[Dave Allen]

Thank God all the TV stations told us how to drive on ice. I always look forward to those and the pictures of giant salt piles.

[Bob Campbell]

Write it down. This morning, 5:53 am. First "It's snowing in Winston Salem" call of the year. We immediately signed off the transmitter and rushed to the nearest Food Lion to get all the milk, bread, and eggs we could carry.

[Arp2]

Upon seeing said frenzy, they run to Wal-Marts (intentionally plural because that's what hill folk call it), and purchase enough milk, bread, toilet paper, and yes, cheerios, to supply the USMC for a month.

Wal~Mart has discovered that sales of Pop-Tarts, particularly strawberry ones, go through the roof whenever a hurricane appears to be headed somewhere. Accordingly, Wal~Mart puts truckloads of Pop-Tarts, particularly strawberry ones, on the road as soon as a forecast comes out.

The most freakish and irritating thing about all this "before a storm" shopping.....to me, at least?

Why??

Actual conversation:

"Why do you run out to a store, get in a crowd, and stand in a long checkout line to get milk and bread and stuff?"

"In case we'd run out."

"Are you close to running out?"

"I don't think so."

"Do you eat a lot of bread? Drink a lot of milk?"

"No, not really."

"So why do you do it??"

"Might need to make sandwiches? I don't know! That's just what you do! Leave me alone!"

[genlock]

In the blizzard of '92, I think that was the year, I bought a case of beer and a large candle. I still have that candle. Power didn't go off.

[The People's DJ]

Back a few moons ago where I'm at we had a hell of a snow storm hit on Presidents Day. Now no one was out and about that day. But the day before..well the local Wal-mart was packed. Like it was "the end of time" packed. I looked at those fools and laugh.

Oh...and I really...REALLY wish people would learn how to drive in snow.

[cgarison]

In the blizzard of '92, I think that was the year, I bought a case of beer and a large candle. I still have that candle. Power didn't go off.

I liked the Blizzard of 1996 Which came through the area three times. After having to park the Subaru due to a lack of ground clearance, I bought my first Jeep Cherokee. I have yet to see decent snow since.

[PassiveObserver]

The real story in the Parkersburg/Marietta area was how unprepared they were for the 2-3 inches of snow we got. All the newspapers wrote stories leading up to this day talking about how prepared we were. However, salt trucks and plows didn't really kick into gear until4-5 p.m. today. I drove from Parkersburg to my Marietta office and only saw one salt truck. I probably saw close to five wrecks today. The Wood County Sheriffs Department reported over 30 accident calls!

And it was barely 3 inches probably - less than that at 8 a.m.

City, County, and State Governments weren't ready and neither were the people, despite snow predictions since Monday.

I get that we don't get snow very often here, but I can imagine how hard people in Toledo, OH are laughing at us down here on the Mid-Ohio Valley.

You could spill a slushy on Rt. 2 down here and probably get a state of emergency declared.

[Greg Goodfellow]

Spider, I'm about 35 miles north of you. We measured 6 /12 inches on the deck table.

[Bob Campbell]

Come to think of it though, isn't Wal Mart always packed anyway?

[Zak Tyler]

I liked the Blizzard of 1996 Which came through the area three times. After having to park the Subaru due to a lack of ground clearance, I bought my first Jeep Cherokee. I have yet to see decent snow since.

i remember those i was part of a training team for a pizza shop opening up in richmond. at the time i owned a 78 ford econoline with big ass tires on it. i was the only guy in richmond that could get out and deliver pizzas. we would take the phones off hold for about 10 minutes and take about 20 orders or so, i'd deliver those in one run, while i was out they take more orders and make them, i'd just pull in and they would load them up and i'd be off again. i musta made 3 or 4 hundred dollars in tips that day.... that was great fun