About that weekend forecast

Let's talk a little bit about the weather, shall we?

After all, that's about all anyone is going to be talking about all day.

First things first. Yes, it is cold out. Very cold.

When I hit the seat of my car early this a.m. I was greeted by a dashboard thermometer letting me know it was 10 degrees out. That quickly clicked down to 9 degrees once I got out on the road.

But there was something I did not encounter on the roads, despite any number of folks warning me to be on the lookout for it. I saw very little in the way of icing or even many icy patches.

It goes along with a lot of other things I did not see this weekend, despite being told for days to be on the lookout for them. I did not see any great snow. We got a dusting Friday night into Saturday morning.

So that emergency trip to the supermarket for all the basic supplies Friday night on the way home from work was pretty much for naught.

Then we were assured Round 2 was going to hit Friday afternoon and into Friday night with a blast of snow that would eventually turn into rain.

Well, we got the rain, but the snow was a no-show.

After banning a lot of commercial traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and other state highways, even PennDOT relented Sunday afternoon when it became obvious that conditions no longer warranted those actions.

The one thing they did get right on this weekend forecast was the plunging temperatures Sunday afternoon and into Monday. But I also noticed something else: The Wind.

All that wind Sunday afternoon dried out the roads.

The icing that everyone was warning us about never really showed up. Yes, any standing water or puddles in yards or along the side of the road froze over, but the roads did not turn into skating rinks as many had feared.

In these instances, my heart always goes out to restaurant and bar owners, places that depend on people getting out and about for their livelihoods.

Specifically, I always wonder what they must be thinking when all they heard all day Friday and Saturday - their two biggest nights of the week - is any number of local broadcasters braying: "All you can say on a day like this is if you don't have to go out, don't."

Swell.