Did You Order This Weather?
- Wade
In the spirit of being a true Minnesotan... I'm going to talk about the weather.
Twenty degrees below zero, without factoring in the wind chill. 12 inches of snow falling on one day. Schools canceling left and right. This is the typical Minnesota winter that I remember. And I truly don't mind it. Okay, waiting for the bus is an experience. But after the wimpy winters we've had the past few years, it's nice to have one that reminds people why we've gotten our reputation.
But the happiest people yesterday? Local TV news weathermen.
Oh, I guess they're meteorologists now. Less gender-specific, and more intelligent-sounding. But meteorologist? Isn't that a degree you can get from that Sally Struthers school? I rarely catch local news anymore-- their focus on gloom and doom is much less entertaining than Seinfeld reruns-- but when I do, Paul Douglas or Ken Barlow or Sunny Haus are salivating all over themselves about the oncoming bad weather.
It doesn't have to be a storm to get the heart rates of these yahoos to double-- a forecasted dusting of snow will lead to break-ins of regularly scheduled coverage, teasers making you think that the storm to rival The Blizzard of '49 is on its way. And the result? They usually blow it.
I can see why they hype weather-- people generally get nerved up about upcoming storms, mostly because of the effect on their commute. So a weather teaser saying something like "10% chance of flurries tomorrow" will attract less viewers than "HOLY CRAP, IT'S GONNA SNOW!!!" Fear is a great manipulation tool. Back when I drove to work, I'd get wrapped up in it: if a storm was predicted, I'd wake up early and flip on the news to see if it actually got there, and how it would affect my trip into work.
After a lot of lost sleep for nothing, I realized that it wasn't worth it. Weather happens whether you worry about it or whether you don't. And having a "news personality" who has less accuracy than an NFL referee attempt to rile up the state to get more viewers is just plain useless.
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