Libertarian Librarian

Okay, I'm going to sound like an old fart now, and maybe that's what I'm becoming, but I remember as a kid that schools and other social events and organizations did not close in Wisconsin unless there was a good eight inches or more of snow falling on the ground. Six inches was annoying, but passable, and anything four or under was a minor nuisance. One thing I definitely remember is that school was never ever cancelled before any snow actually fell simply because the weathermen thought there was going to be a big storm.

No longer. This morning, before a single flake of snow had touched the ground, there was a LONG scroll across the bottom of the local news broadcast listing all the schools, clubs, and other agencies that were closing for the day. Because the weathermen were predicting 8-12 inches of snow. Of course, the fact that they had predicted the snow to start falling at around midnight and it was now 7 am with no snow yet falling did not matter-- there was going to be a big storm today. Weathermen were all up in arms about it, after all.

Flash forward to now-- 2 pm. There's a light dusting of snow on the ground. Maybe-- maybe-- an inch. Revised forecasts now estimate that somewhere between 2 and 4 inches will fall today.

So. School was cancelled, people inconvenienced, social activities curtailed-- for 2-4 inches of snow. IN WISCONSIN! If this were Alabama, okay, 2-4 inches of snow might be difficult to deal with, but we're in freakin' Wisconsin. There's been known to be a bit of snow up here where it does tend to get a tad cold from time to time.

Pathetic.

Absolutely pathetic. In retrospect, it's a shame that all the folks running around bemoaning this huge winter storm headed our way weren't in Louisiana last year-- they would've evacuated New Orleans back on August 23 because there was a chance that Katrina (then just forming over the Bahamas) might end up somewhere near the Gulf Coast by the end of the month.

Labels: Politics