2.12.2007

The sky is falling, the sky is falling...........

.....or it might as well be. Good grief. You'd think we'd be used to the "snowstorm" frenzy after living here for five years, but it continues to amuse and amaze us.

The weather forecasters (who, by the way, are the only people on earth who can be wrong every single day and still keep their jobs) are predicting a "substantial snow event" here in Maryland this week. Now, I have to tell you that "substantial" in this case means 2-4 inches of snow west of Baltimore, followed by some freezing rain, and then maybe a bit more snow.

All of central Maryland is in a panic. This morning on the radio station, the call-in question was "What will you do during the snowstorm tomorrow?" At school today, the teachers were telling the kids "We'll have our Valentine's Day party after the snowstorm", and I know we will get at least one note and one e-mail from the school explaining the "snow event procedures" for this week. Early this morning, we got an e-mail from Payton's basketball coach reminding us of the guidelines for practice and games in the event of a snowstorm. Never mind that his game isn't until SATURDAY!!

The news is reporting on the upcoming weather, the traffic, delays and closings, and which grocery stores have the shortest lines. I'm not kidding! And the lines will be LONG because everyone will be stocking up like squirrels in October, and there will not be a gallon of milk, a roll of toilet paper, or a carton of eggs to be found in the three surrounding counties.

The lead story on our local news tonight will be how many snow shovels were sold at Home Depot today and which stores have bags of ice melt left. If it does snow, all the local television programming will be preempted and we'll have nothing to watch but tired reporters in funky winter hats coming to us live from a 7-11 somewhere, which will be the ONLY convenience store in the county that is open for business--because everyone wants a large Slurpee during a snowstorm. Thank goodness for cable!

We just laugh. Ten years of living in Michigan desensitized us to snow. The kids are thrilled. School is canceled here if they even threaten snow--so we'll be sleeping in tomorrow, drinking all that milk, and eating lots of eggs. Let it snow!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here too they are calling for a snowstorm with anticipated amounts of 6-12". The girls are hoping for a snow day this week but aren't counting on it. Welcome to Western New York!!! Stay home and play lots of games.

Beckyb said...

That's funny - I was thinking the same thing - you guys need to live in Michigan (or Iowa) for awhile - we don't even "call" a snowday until you are nearly stuck in your home!!! :)