Weathergasm, weathergasm, weathergasm!
Nothing like snow to make folks giddy and ready to kick up their heels and get outside. And then there are the non-newspeople too.
No, seriously folks, I have to admit I was impressed when I cranked up the TV and surfed the local channels at 5 o'clock. Not once did I hear the term "winter wonderland". Of course I surfed the channels quickly to see who was doing what and where so I may have missed someone using that term, but I can only hope those words weren't uttered. Remember, if it sounds like a cliche or you think it's a cliche, it probably is.
What I did hear was good reporting from 3, 5 and 13 regarding the weather. When I got to 24, they were already on a story about a hold-up in a convenience store where somebody threatened to shoot somebody in the face so I don't know if they had gotten through the snow stories by then or they decided it was just snow and the story shouldn't be blown out of propotion.
Having grown up in the Midsouth, it still amazes me how people forget to drive in snow. It shouldn't but it does. I had promised to drive my wife around for her errands in East Memphis in my old 4-wheel drive Pathfinder. Since it's a 1987 model, I don't mind driving it in nasty traffic and when you drive something like that, it's amazing how someone in a new Benz or Jag will get out of your way. It was raining and just starting to spit snow when we left the house at 1:30. By 2:45, traffic at Mendenhal and Poplar was bumper to bumper and at a crawl as the snow fast and hard. As we drove by Target, the lot was almost empty ( at least to Target standards) so we stopped there. No, we didn't buy bread or milk. By 3:15 we were inching along Southern trying to avoid Poplar. Long story short, it took us about an hour to get back to the confines of Midtown from East Memphis.
My wife pointed out that it was February 11th, 1994 that Memphis and the Midsouth got hammered by the ice storm. Our electricity was knocked out for six days. I don't think we have to worry about that this time around. I will admit the snow is pretty, but now that we've had that, I'm ready for it to melt and lets get to spring.
No, seriously folks, I have to admit I was impressed when I cranked up the TV and surfed the local channels at 5 o'clock. Not once did I hear the term "winter wonderland". Of course I surfed the channels quickly to see who was doing what and where so I may have missed someone using that term, but I can only hope those words weren't uttered. Remember, if it sounds like a cliche or you think it's a cliche, it probably is.
What I did hear was good reporting from 3, 5 and 13 regarding the weather. When I got to 24, they were already on a story about a hold-up in a convenience store where somebody threatened to shoot somebody in the face so I don't know if they had gotten through the snow stories by then or they decided it was just snow and the story shouldn't be blown out of propotion.
Having grown up in the Midsouth, it still amazes me how people forget to drive in snow. It shouldn't but it does. I had promised to drive my wife around for her errands in East Memphis in my old 4-wheel drive Pathfinder. Since it's a 1987 model, I don't mind driving it in nasty traffic and when you drive something like that, it's amazing how someone in a new Benz or Jag will get out of your way. It was raining and just starting to spit snow when we left the house at 1:30. By 2:45, traffic at Mendenhal and Poplar was bumper to bumper and at a crawl as the snow fast and hard. As we drove by Target, the lot was almost empty ( at least to Target standards) so we stopped there. No, we didn't buy bread or milk. By 3:15 we were inching along Southern trying to avoid Poplar. Long story short, it took us about an hour to get back to the confines of Midtown from East Memphis.
My wife pointed out that it was February 11th, 1994 that Memphis and the Midsouth got hammered by the ice storm. Our electricity was knocked out for six days. I don't think we have to worry about that this time around. I will admit the snow is pretty, but now that we've had that, I'm ready for it to melt and lets get to spring.
posted by Joe Larkins at 3:14 PM
4 Comments:
I heard it!!! Newschannel 3.
I am sooooo disappointed. Please tell me who the offender was so we can throw snowballs and taunt this person for a lack of originality.
A story I love to share: about 10 years ago, I was with a friend, coming across the I-40 bridge into town. It had snowed overnight, and the roads were decent; not great, but not horrible.
Gal in the outbound lanes slides into one retaining wall on the bridge... goes across all 4 all lanes... slides into the OTHER retaining wall... and somehow keeps on going.
Gotta love Memphis drivers.
And to think Paul Dorman (Of Channel 3) used to pick up a phone and call around to different areas to find out what the weather was like. Then on the news cast he would use a magic marker on drawing paper to draw the US and point out what it was doing and how much."Hey Jim, what's the weather like in Jonesboro? Well Paul, it's raining." Forecast was always accurate.
3D Doppler-Million Watts.....Bah!
.....JD
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