The Snow Skeptic

Every winter, it seems there are three or four instances where the local news stations get all excited about an upcoming weather event. Usually, it is either a snow storm or a hurricane. Living in North Carolina, we see some pretty strange weather -- temps rise and fall like the waves off Cape Hatteras and summer tornado watches are very common. This morning, Lynell called me to tell me we are in for a "snow event" tomorrow. My instant reaction was a skeptical "Mmm hmm. Sure. They say that every year." It has been at least 3 years since the last big snow event, yet they call for one multiple times each winter. Last year alone, they were 0-for-4, including one miss that had us getting 6 inches of the white stuff (there were blue skies all day instead). I guess I have become jaded to the excitement.



According to the map on our favorite station, WRAL, we should be in the 2-4" area tomorrow at 7:00am. This means that the 6pm newscast this evening will spend 10 minutes talking about preparations for the snow. They'll interview the head of the Department of Transportation and show countless shots of the mountain of sand that crews will use to combat the icy effects of melting snow. People will rush to the grocery stores tonight after work to buy bread, milk and eggs. Schools will start to cancel classes. Then, we'll have a repeat of it all on the late news.

Maybe having a snow event will cure my skepticism. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

**UPDATE**
The plot thickens... National Weather Service is now saying this:

..it is important to note...That models could be tracking the bombing surface low too quickly offshore...as deepening system could slow down and track west of current forecast (closer to the coast) as it moves into the highly baroclinic zone of the Gulf Stream. This would result in much heavier snowfall amounts across the area...with heavy snowfall islands reminiscent of the record January 25 2000 snowstorm.