Bob CollinsWatching CNN this morning, I was impressed by the animated graphic “StormWatch,” followed by the important announcement that in Watertown, New York there’ll be lake-effect snow today. “The snow will begin piling up,” the meteorologist said. “They could get up to two inches!”
Two inches? Upstate weenies.
When did we start getting so unnerved by average snowfall?
In Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, where the biggest scandal used to be not plowing the highway within a few minutes of when snow fell on it, held a news conference in advance of the big weekend storm, which we’re shrugging off like good Minnesotans by talking about it non-stop.
The news conference started 15 minutes before the news conference in St. Paul that may reveal the state’s economy is going belly-up. Which story do you think will lead the nightly news?
Blogging buddy Craig Edwards over at Updraft advised, “If you have shopping on your to do list for Saturday, you’ll want to take advantage of the Early Bird Special and find yourself safely back home around lunch time.”
Over at WCCO, Paul Douglas “recommended doing your weekend errands Friday night, early Saturday morning or late Sunday evening.”
In other words, get back in your homes by the time the snow starts.
Over the course of the storm, which is to last through Saturday night, we’re expected to get 6-10″ of snow.
We’re in full sky-is-falling mode. We’ll play Snow Storm Bingo – Sningo! — to prove it.
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Update Fri 9:11 p We’re off and running! Fox9 does the stocking-up-with-groceries and hardware-guy-selling-shovels angle. I didn’t see the “buying extra pet food for my rabbit” angle coming, though.
10:14 p.m. – Plow driver? Check. The live ‘CCO report from a near-empty Kowalski’s to show how people were shopping to stock up on the viddles was a nice “imagine if you will” touch.
Sat 9 a.m. – Snow begins falling. Suddenly, we’re not sure there’s enough food in the house.
3:30 p.m. – All Things Considered host Tom Crann reports Paul Huttner used the term “computer model.”
5:27 p.m. Sven does the weather in the backyard without hat. Of course, it was hardly snowing at the time since the storm is producing less than predicted.
Looks like we’re one Gov. Pawlenty sweater away from “SNINGO!”
Sun 5:03 p.m. In a live report from St. Paul, Jeremy Hubbard of ABC News declares “high winds and frigid temperatures persist here.” A check at the downtown St. Paul airport showed winds of 12. Temperature 23. He referred to it as “a monster storm.”
