Snow Fever

I will always cherish the memories I have of snow days as a kid.  I would hear about the potential snow storm, maybe even see it begin to sprinkle some white flakes on our front lawn.  With that hopeful thought, I would coax myself to sleep.  Waiting for the morning, the anxiety wasn’t unlike Christmas Eve.  The next morning, I would look out the window, and then run to the TV for confirmation.  Channel 8, the local channel with township bulletins, would show the magical words layered over the light blue background: all schools cancelled.  (“All schools cancelled” doesn’t exactly sound right, but go with it for a minute.)  I was always happy to see those words, maybe even involving dancing and screaming into the action.

For many people, snow is only fun as a child, and it becomes less fun and more burdensome as they grow up.  I think the tipping point where burden takes up the majority is when we get our driver’s licenses – we’re old enough not to be excited by snow, and snow causes hazardous driving conditions.

People are getting sick of the snow around here, and those on the west coast don’t hesitate to remind us of their good weather.  However, I don’t really mind the snow.  As long as one is careful on the roads, it is pretty much harmless.  Sure, maybe a tree takes down some power lines, but that can happen anywhere during any season.  Yes, we have to shovel the snow and dig out our cars but it isn’t really not that bad.  Maybe it is because I grew up around here and I am used to it – I’m sure being familiar with this environment plays a part.  However, I would prefer the occasional (or, as it has been this year, weekly) snow compared to the hurricanes that blow roofs off houses.  I am also scared of that earthquake that will take down California at some point in the future.

One thing that does bother me about New York/New Jersey weather is the occasional frigid temperatures – days when wind chill makes the air feel like it is cutting into your skin.  I can sure do without that, although it’s probably not as bad as some northern cities like Boston, Milwaukee, or Fargo.

Final note: yes, I am familiar with snow, but this morning was a different beast altogether.  I’ve scraped ice off my car before, but I don’t think I’ve ever had to crack the ice first because it wouldn’t get scraped.  Turns out my ice scraper has a small ice-picking shape cut out at the corners.  Who knew?

Weatherman

We are having our first big snow of the winter.  I did not expect it at all because I haven’t been watching the news or anything.  All I knew is that it started snowing in the morning… and it just did not stop.  Still going as of 10:40pm.

We are living in the era of narrowcasting.  Days of everyone gathering around the TV for the 6 o’clock news is over.  We pick and choose what we want to know, when we want to know it.  This means if I am not actively looking at the weather-specific media channel, I will not hear about it, unless I’m watching network TV and the weather center leaves a weather report scrolling on the bottom of the screen, or I’m listening to radio and the weather report comes on.  Those who watch their shows online or on DVR, and listen to satellite radio, will not know about the weather.  As for me, I did not watch TV the past few days, and I go directly to my favorite sites on the Internet, so I was completely unaware of this snowstorm until it hit us.

But I noticed something interesting during this storm.  When looking for weather reports, I still wanted to listen to the weatherman on the radio or watch one on TV.  I relied less on the weather reports and radar maps online.  Sure, I do rely on weather.com for upcoming weather, but in a serious case like this, I wanted to hear it from the weatherman.  I guess that is because they seem more local than the websites, and they explain the weather in layman’s terms.  Not that I don’t understand “snow overnight and into early morning”, I just like hearing it from the weatherman.  I can’t really explain it.  I guess even I – a Droid user, a man who will replace cable with a media PC in his home, a man who relies on the Internet for every single bit of news – have a soft spot for weatherman.  Maybe this means even though TV is continuing to lose viewers, the news, and the weather, will always be on it.

Biting Cold

As I was walking from the parking lot to the bus stop 20 minutes ago, I was thinking of today’s topic.  I thought of one, but another topic literally knocked it out of my head: this weather.  All parts of my body were covered except my head, and my face felt like it was being bitten by the cold, thus making the term “biting cold” a good description for today’s weather.

I’ve lived in New Jersey for two-thirds of my life, and I’ve always thought about leaving this land filled with highways, swamps, and short Italian girls with attitudes, but I don’t know if I can possibly live in a place colder than this.  Buffalo?  Boston?  Milwaukee?  How do people live in those cities?  Well, if I ever had a good life waiting for me in a cold climate city, I guess I would make the move and deal with the cold, but man, it would be tough.  I think one reason I would make the move is because I would forget how cold cold can be.  For example, I’ve been on the bus for 10 minutes now and now that I’m all warmed up, I don’t exactly remember that feeling of cold anymore.  I remember feeling that I was cold, but I cannot recreate the biting sensation in my face when walking against the wind.

Also, now that I’m all warmed up, I’ve lost the desire to talk about the weather.  Wait, am I actually talking about the weather?  The most mundane and stereotypical conversation topic between two acquaintances with nothing else to talk about?  Well, maybe this was a bad idea.  I guess I can’t hit a home run every day.  I promise you, I will no longer blog about the weather unless it actually affects me beyond it biting my face off.