The Snowstorm That Wasn't

I hope this time we have FINALLY learned our lesson, though I suspect we won't because we've been here before. The meteorologists whipped us into a frenzy - 8 inches, 12 inches, total chaos, nor'easter, heavy winds, wintry mix - all the buzzwords that get schools to prematurely close the day before the impending "storm" before nary a flake has fallen.  The buzzwords that get the governor trotting out to do a press conference imploring us to stay off the roads, closing state offices, blah, blah, blah.  And we wait for the hour of doom when the hell is supposed to be unleashed, but then 8 a.m. comes and goes and no snow. Then 9 a.m. Then 10. Next thing you know it's noon and you realize, had everyone not freaked out, they could have fit in at least half a school day. Then 3 p.m. comes and you realize they could have fit in a full school day. Then the next DAY arrives and you wake up and snow STILL hasn't fallen to any even minutely significant degree and you realize that, once again, you've been played. The local news stations trumpeted up the storm, reaped the high ratings, and will now backpedal and tell us they said there was a chance the storm could miss us or whatever b.s. excuse they drum up. All that hi-tech equipment, the Doppler Radar, etc. SOMEHOW couldn't get it right. Some people say, as far as cancelling the schools, "better safe than sorry" because you don't want a repeat of what happened in 2007 or so where kids got stranded on school buses in a storm for six hours, or the Blizzard of '78 where people got stranded outside of their homes. To them I say, "that was two instances in 40 years." All the other billions of snow storms in that span we just DEALT with it as it came. People went to work, kids went to school - we ADAPTED to what actually HAPPENED as opposed to reacting to something before it even remotely started happening. Again, I'd like to think we learned our lesson from this non-storm, but I know we haven't. There's money in screwing up weather forecasts because weather events are top-rated segments on local news programs. The school closings and work closings appeal to the laziness in us who want to just take an undeserved day off. Human nature dictates that, as long as there is money and leisure to be had, the status quo will remain. Enjoy the storm that wasn't.