Yesterday I opined at length at the way the weather story was being reported. Basically I think the idea was to scare us to death.
Or simply keep us inside, sitting in front of the TV, captives to the weather mania that was sweeping the region.
We even had a cute name for the Nor'easter that was bearing down on the area and taking dead aim at New England.
Nemo.
I'm not kidding. We're now naming winter storms, the cold weather equivalent of hurricane season. Here's some background on how that came about.
The problem was Nemo wasn't acting as it was supposed to, at least not in the Philadelphia suburbs. Finding Nemo? Apparently Nemo was having trouble finding us.
It rained most of the day.
I decided to post a story on DelcoTimes.com and update it each hour on the snow watch. All morning and all afternoon I waited but failed to see nary a flake. It finally started to snow just a bit as I was driving home.
At best I would say we got a dusting. Which is odd, since I could have swore I heard a lot of forecasters just a few hours before saying they were "upping" their snow totals. To which I would reply, "what snow total?"
That is not to say this was not a huge storm. It dropped upwards of two feet of snow on New England. The problem is this is not New England. Even someone as geographically challenged as I am can see that.
The "northern and western" suburbs? I don't know where they hell they are.
What I do know is that I don't need Doppler radar to tell me the forecast yesterday missed the mark. Maybe we should all just stick our head out the window.
Yesterday morning I heard everything from driving in the rain being 'treacherous," to that old standby, "If you don't have to go out, don't." How do you think that went over with bar and restaurant owners on what would normally be a busy Friday night.
Another reporter stationed in Bucks County breathlessly reported the first few flakes, only to be deflated a half hour later when it changed back to rain.
Did the Lehigh Valley and parts of Bucks County get some snow? Sure. Did we? I can't find it, other than the dusting on my front lawn.
I know I'm not going to win this fight. I know the next storm will get hyped just as much as this one did.
But I'm no longer buying. It borders on being a public disservice.
Yesterday being Exhibit A. I rest my case.
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