This is supposed to be a blog about Karate and our dojo, so what does that have to do with hating the weatherman*? Nobody showed up last night to our special Black Belt seminar due to questionable bad weather.
All weekend long weathermen* were talking about the terrible snowstorm coming on Monday. As Monday came closer, their predictions worsened. Late Sunday night they were calling for a ‘snowmageddon’, with two to three feet of snow predicted to fall. The fact that snowfall was light Monday morning didn’t stop them; they changed their forecasts to say the worst was still coming. Later in the day they said the worst would occur overnight and continue to mid-afternoon Tuesday. Yes, there was some significant snowfall overnight, and plowing and shoveling was necessary. It was no worse, however, than any significant snowfall. So all day today they of course broadcast how we 'lucked out', ‘dodged the bullet’, ‘missed the big one’, etc.
I’m old. I remember watching Walter Cronkite give all the important news of the day within a ½ hour broadcast. Before that, he had a 15 minute Sunday night newscast called ‘Up to the Minute’. Today, there is ‘news’ from 4:30am to 10:00am, noon to 1:00pm, 5:00 to 6:30pm before the national news 6:30 to 7:00pm, 11:00 to 11:35pm, and overnight. The news is now part of network entertainment division, hosted by movie star-looking anchors, reporters, and weathermen*. These million-dollar-salaried ‘newscasters’ report human interest, celebrity news, social media reports, oh, and a little actual news. By watching the news I’ve learned more about the Kardashians than about Kazakhstan.
Back to weathermen*: Predicting the weather has become more exact with radar and all the other weather forecasting technologies, but it’s still not an exact science. We can’t control the weather, and the weather is one of the few things that directly affects us every day. Weathermen* know this and sensationalize bad forecasts. Networks feature the weather several times on every broadcast, and special programs on the weather are featured every season.
I understand, better be forewarned than be caught off guard. What I don’t like is how weathermen* whip the public up in a frenzy when there’s no need. Schools, programs, and businesses were planning closings before a single snowflake fell. Give me the old days when news was news, not entertainment. We could look out the window, check the current weather without all the 'shock and awe', and take our own precautions.
“Stay inside”, “Don’t go out”, “Keep off the roads”. OK, as long as I’m stuck inside anyway I decided to watch some TV. Almost every program was preempted, delayed, or interrupted by special weather reports with reporters outside telling me to stay inside, reporters driving on the road telling me not to drive, and, in case I’m incapable of going to a window, reports showing me that it’s still snowing outside.
Here’s a sign I put up in the dojo after one of last year’s ‘snowmageddons’:
*By the way, I’m not being sexist by saying ‘weatherman’. I hate weatherwomen equally. The sexes have always been connected: man - woman; male - female; he - she. After all, man or woman, we’re all human.
