Snow reports on your TV in your area

[UnderdogDJLSW]

So I live near Baltimore and DC. We have one inch of snow and I will admit that the traffic is bad in the area as snowfall is more uncommon here than common, but the TV stations are acting like we are having an alien invasion. I know their job is to sensationalize, but I would love one morning to get up and just have the person say "just an inch, be careful, no worries." oh, and my kids' schools are closed for the day.

[MIB41]

We have one station in Louisville, Wave 3, that spends almost every day talking about the "chance for snow". On their internet site many daily weather briefs have the title "Snow talk!" as part of the verbiage, so there's definitely this perception that just the mere suggestion of snow will spike ratings. The funny part? Seldom do we get flurries let alone real snow fall, so on the chance we ever do get measurable precipitation they're the first to say they called it. Of course they never want to tell you about the other 200 times they called it and nothing happened.

[Godzilla]

I think we got about 4 inches in Columbus, OH. No school for the kids!

[madmarva]

As a former newspaper guy, I think it's crazy how much time is devoted to weather in a 30-minute local news broadcast whether bad weather is in the forecast or not. But they do surveys out the wazoo and evidently that's what viewers want. A little snow in our area is treated like a huge event rather than a natural occurrence.

[YoungOnce]

You've hit a pet peeve of mine. In the pursuit of ratings, newscasts seem to oversell every cold front coming through. I can remember growing up and waking up to a foot of snow... And not even knowing about it until it happened. Of course there was only a half hour newscast in the evenings, so... It was easier to miss I guess.

[cockyhoskins]

In Upstate SC, we are going to get into the single digits tonight. No snow though. Schools are delayed three hours, so that kids don't have to stand in the cold weather waiting for the bus.

I always tell my kids the story about the blizzard of '78 in Detroit. I walked to school with literally four feet of snow around me. Of course, the roads were cleared because it was Detroit. But still, I will never forget that memory from my childhood!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blizzard_of_1978

[JWLJN]

In Pittsburgh the stations always interview people at the grocery store "stocking up" for the storm and they're always buying bread, milk, and...toilet paper. I'm not sure if this is a thing a outside of PGH, but it's become a joke here.

-J\/\/

[Rallygirl]

Channel 13 - "Snow and wind will lead to travel headaches late Thursday into Friday"
Channel 17 - "Snow will be heavy at times in the evening and overnight. Highs will be in the low to mid teens. Southwest to west wind 15 to 25 mph."
Channel 3- "Brutally cold through midday. Light, lake effect snow showers give way to steady and increasingly heavy snow by early afternoon at the Lake Shore. The evening commute will be difficult"
Channel 8 - " 6-12” of new snow plus blowing and drifting snow. NEAR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS are expected late Thursday night into midday Friday!"

Yeah, Channel 8 is the local media drama queen. Then again, some of their meteorologists cannot predict the weather even when it directly effects themselves. A few years back, my husband, who manages a concrete plant, had to send concrete to the home of a channel 8 meteorologist for a new, custom, in-ground pool. It was a little overcast and the contractor was concerned about starting the project. My husband said to call the customer, after all, if anyone should know the impending weather, she should. She requested that the contractor continue with the project because there was absolutely no chance of rain. Half an hour into the concrete pour, it down-poured ruining her new pool.

It's winter. It will snow, blow, drift, and be cold. Duh, it's winter! I have never been so low on either food or toilet paper that a few extra snowy days means we would walk around starving with dirty butts.

[johnnystorm]

I absolutely hate the amount of time given to the weather on the local news, and even the networks do it too (although I can watch Ginger Zee without too much effort!).
Our news starts with a teaser intro of the weather guy "tracking a winter storm", then after the credits a first weather (or ACCU-weather to be precise), then 5 minutes of news , mostly fires and cars smashing into storefronts. Then the official weather spot, followed by fluff news, high school sports, then back to the weather. Crazy!


As for the stocker uppers, when was the last time anyone truly got snowed in? I'm not talking about you folks in the northern areas, I mean here in central Pa with a forecasted 1-4"? We normally eat a loaf of bread once a week for three people. Same with a gallon of milk. Why do these people load up their carts?

2 hour delay today for being cold out. I understand the kids not standing out for the buses, but why can't I drop my kid off like I normally do? Everyone's there at the school right? Not to sound like my grandfather, but I can't remember this stuff happening in the 70s. And I did walk to school every day, I lived too close to be a bus kid (8 blocks).

[cockyhoskins]

We are on a 3-hour delay, but you are free to drop your kids at normal time. The delay is mainly for the bus kids. Our district's philosophy is that the teachers are there anyways, so let the parents drop them if they need to go to work, etc.

[TomStrong]

We had school as usual and many buses wouldn't crank in the single digit temperature this morning. Many were late because of this, one broke down with kids on it and had to wait in the cold for a mechanic, it was bad.

It's pretty sad to see so many kids coming in under dressed, broke my heart this morning. Saw a kid in shorts in 2 degree weather.

[Rallygirl]

Holy crap, the drama queen station was right! More than a foot of snow already, and I seriously cannot see more than about two feet out my front door,...and this is five miles inland from the lake. I just talked to our neighbors at our farm property, which is half a block off Lake Michigan. The power is out there, trees and power poles are being snapped by the wind and houses are being drifted under. Many of those houses are just east of the dune line, so the wind drops all the snow right on them. In town, the city is closing down streets. We expect Harbor Drive along Lake Michigan to be closed, but there are huge drifts through downtown since the wind is blowing everything right up the main street. If this keeps up all night as expected, this just might be one to remember.