Sensationalizing The Weather (Channel 16's #1)

When it comes to sensationalizing the weather, Channel 16 is by far #1. They are on top of the polls, far ahead of Channel 28 and others, somewhat like Florida was for most of the year in the college football polls. Yesterday our forecast for most of the day was 1 to 3 inches of snow from a monster storm that has dumped record snow falls in many of the states south of Pennsylvania. No big deal for us right? Well, wrongo beaver breath! I turned on Channel 16 at 6 pm to watch the news and BAM, I thought the forecast had changed to an all out blizzard. They were interviewing people in the grocery stores asking them if they are stocking up for the Superbowl on Friday because of the big snowstorm that was going to dump on us Friday night into Saturday morning. Are you kidding me. They had film of people with packed grocery carts moving through the isles and made it seem like they were stocking up for Armageddon. One lady they interviewed had a grocery cart packed to the gills with what appeared to be items you would pick up during your normal week of shopping. I did notice however that she had a large amount of waffles. Last time I checked waffles were not a Superbowl or snowstorm favorite? I immediately thought that the forecast had changed. My mind started to swim with thoughts of 8 inches or more of snow by the way Channel 16 was covering the story. Of course I should have known better. They are the reigning champs in panicking our local senior citizens into storming the stores for bread and milk. Sometimes I wonder if they get a kickback on the sales of these two items when there is a threat of a dusting to an inch of snow. They often will have reporters up on Interstate 81 prowling the roadside to report what plan PennDot may have if we get a little snow. Of course we all know what PennDot's plan is. Lay down some brine and then watch the snow fall. Once it is over we will get to the roads eventually. Anyway, back to 16. I could go on and on about PennDot. So, I waited until our long time weather amigo Tom Clark came on and guess what? His forecast was for 1 to 3 inches of snow. I thought you bastards. You get everybody all fired up and then lay the 1 to 3 hammer on us. I can't take this anymore! A forecast with this small amount of snow should be a walk in the park for people in Northeastern Pennsylvania. We usually get it several times throughout a normal winter. Oh, by the way, as I sit here at 8:55 am on Saturday morning I can peer out my back window and I see that we got absolutely nothing! Zip, Zilch, Nada flake on the ground. Way to go, you got everybody in a panic and blew the forecast as well. I am done with Channel 16. From now on I will go to online web sites like weatherchannel.com, and NOAA.com for my weather. As for my bread and milk, I'm all out. I didn't fall for the Channel 16 hype. DID YOU?