It’s kind of funny watching how the media operates- if anything the protests in Egypt are increasing and reaching a critical mass, yet CNN, which had breathless round the clock coverage for the past week, has dropped the story like a prom dress in favor of the imminent MASSIVE ONCE IN A CENTURY SO BAD THEY ARE FREAKING OUT IN CHICAGO snow storm.
My advice to pretty white girls- stay inside. If you get abducted today, you don’t have a chance.
p.a.
The Daily Show used to have THE classic storm story headline: “Storm of the Century of the Week”
Pangloss
What if the media had given as much coverage to the demonstrations against the Iraq War as they did to this week’s demonstrations in Egypt?
Comrade Javamanphil
Egypt is like a million miles away and the people smell funny and it’s dry. How can you possibly expect American newspersons to care about that especially when it’s snowing IN FEBRUARY!!?!?!?! ZOMG!
Emma
No, no, John. If she’s white and blonde and young she’ll take over the airwaves. Double if there’s something “racy” in the story.
Pangloss
Here in Chicago, the forecasts have warned us of 25-ft. waves on Lake Michigan, “thunder snow, up to two feet of snow, and 60 MPH wind gusts. My office is closing at 2:00 p.m. and is reopening Thursday (hopefully), and that almost never happens in Chicago.
New Yorker
What the fuck is it with snow storms that causes people to freak out? JUST STAY INSIDE. Jesus. It’s not like a blizzard is a hurricane or tornado where your house could be ripped apart by the winds.
me
I hate shoveling. They can have this snow in Egypt.
dmsilev
Well, speaking as someone in Chicago, Snowpocalypse 2011 has me rather concerned. Not terrified or anything, but just making sure that all of the equipment at work is in a safe mode, that I leave early enough to get home before visibility drops, etc.
The next few days won’t be fun, but it won’t be the end of the world either.
dms
Tracy
But won’t somebody think of us tubby white guys?!?!?!?
dmsilev
@New Yorker: Well, if the forecasters are to be believed, some of the wind gusts are going to be pushing up towards hurricane strength. Not sustained, and nowhere near the upper end of the hurricane spectrum, but nothing to sneeze at either.
dms
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Place your bets on how long it takes before the media can find an attractive young blonde who got lost and is now missing in the blizzard of the century.
Yutsano
@New Yorker:
Speaking as a Seattleite, it’s hills. And I do mean hills. Like steep ass 7% grade hills. Seattle is basically a terraced city. Of course it’s sunny and gawjuss today, so of course I gotta go to work. But next snow storm that comes around will pretty much stop everything.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
I’m sitting here staring out my 9th floor window and all’s quiet in Chicago. Well, except for Al Jazeera streaming on my pc.
The girlfriend was over yesterday and made a big thing of chicken soup for me. Gotta grab some beer on the way home and I’ll be set.
ed drone
@dmsilev:
No, that comes next week, after you’ve gotten chilled to the bone, wet with melting snow, and exhausted from extricating your car from six-foot drifts. Then you can sneeze.
And you will.
Ed
scav
@Yutsano: The combo of Hills and Electric Buses are also really really funny to watch during a solid snow there.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
Of COURSE I’m going to stay inside today! Didn’t you hear? A blizzard’s coming to Chicago!
pat
Aljazeera English is the single best source of coverage right now (online — live streaming)
mr. whipple
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
That’s pretty much it, isn’t it? Stock up on some provisions, stay in if at all possible and take it easy. No need for hysteria.
Southern Beale
Speaking of news media, apparently watching Fox News will kill your sex life, or at least it will if you are Camille and Kelsey Grammer:
So, young Wolverines, just be prepared!
dmsilev
@ed drone: THanks. I was trying to avoid thinking about that inevitability. Though, since I don’t own a car, it’s more “slogging through blocks of unshoveled sidewalks to get to work or the store”.
dms
me
@New Yorker: I’ll have to deal with dumbass tenants who’ll be whining about their inability to get their cars out.
Persia
@New Yorker: To be fair, there’s a possibility of both strong winds and serious icing in some areas. Snow is a pain, but ice buildup can be catastrophic.
New Yorker
@Yutsano:
Sure (although Chicago isn’t exactly know for its hills), but I think it’s crazy how much the media freaks out over a blizzard every time one hits. I sat inside my apartment watching movies during “Bloomberg’s Katrina” and everything was fine. The same applies here.
Let’s leave the media freakout to large hurricanes, which can and will kill you if you sit in your house watching TV.
Dan
Well, fifty years from now I’m sure kids will be learning about the Chicago Blizzard of 2011, and not the successive revolutions in the middle east and africa that overthrew numerous despots. That and probably lots about the War of Northern Aggression….
Wile E. Quixote
Yeah, but I’ll bet old Kelsey just loved watching the beach volleyball scene in Top Gun.
Ash Can
@dmsilev: This. You keep an eye on the weather reports, you take precautions, then you hunker down while the storm blows through. One can’t make light of the plight of the homeless/shelter-less in this situation, to be sure, but compared to what’s going on in the Mideast, this is pretty small potatoes. If longer-than-usual lines in the grocery stores and having to rearrange one’s midweek schedule warrant a freakout at CNN, I’d say those folks have a little too much time on their hands, and a certain news organization could maybe stand a little downsizing.
(As for the local breathless “ZOMG!!eleventy” coverage, that gets plenty tiresome as well, but has a modicum of value in that the locals actually do have to know that they’re going to need to stay inside and off the roads for a day or two.)
Mike M
I grew up in suburban Buffalo along the shores of Lake Erie where it is not uncommon to get a couple feet of snow overnight. About 10 years ago, I brought my kids back to visit my relatives for Christmas, and we received 7 feet of snow over 3 days. Still, winters have been relatively mild since then, and even my mother has expressed surprise at how harsh the winter has been this year. I had to remind her that the day I was born she needed to shovel the car out first in order to drive herself to the hospital.
I lived in Chicago during the great blizzard that brought down Michael Bilandic and brought Jane Byrne to the mayor’s office. In the decades since, the mild winters have allowed local governments to cut back on budgets for snow removal equipment, salt, and labor. But even during a period of global warming, winter storms can return with a vengeance and failure to clear the streets can ruin the careers of local and state politicians.
CNN is in competition for advertisers, of course, and they will cover anything that delivers the most eyeballs. Some of the journalists, I’m sure, would like to remain above the fray and cover the big stories. But Egypt is far away and the snow is right outside.
cleek
why is there no 24-7 news coverage of what sounds like a TB epidemic that’s sweeping my office ?
i swear, if i was the boss: third cough of the day and your ass is going home.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@mr. whipple:
Yup. I’ve got some of the good stuff waiting for me as well. It’s going to be a roasty, toasty blizzard for old Rusty. Yes indeedy.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
As a former reporter, though, I will say this:
1) Last week, it was way, way easier for CNN to cover this story. Egypt has imposed many restrictions which make the whole thing much more difficult.
2) Much as I am obsessed with this story, I can genuinely understand Americans who say “Dude, I get it. It’s a big story. What else is happening?” (That the answer appears to be “snow” is another issue).
3) I have to wonder if, now that Anderson Cooper is there, they have some internal reasoning for saving the bulk of their reporting for his show. (I feel sorry for their other reporters. They were doing a great job, and then CNN parachutes in the rock star).
mr. whipple
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
Good for you. Sounds pretty cozy. Enjoy!
Martin
Talked to two colleagues with family still in Egypt. They say everyone is nervous, but controlled. Nobody in danger. There seems to be very widespread support for regime change. They’re nervous about the direction that could take – they fully recognize it’s a double-edged sword. Nobody is being fooled by the actions of the government. They trust the military substantially more than the police, btw.
They’re quite surprised that Mubarak hasn’t seen the writing on the wall and yielded power. He’s not so despised in the country that he would be unwelcome (or in danger) there, but if he keeps going, that’ll change fast. If he agreed to help with a transition of power and elections, it’d go a huge way to redeeming himself in the eyes of the public.
As for snowpocalypse, in my experience, the more they ramp up hysteria over a storm, the more underwhelming it will be. It’s when they ignore when the shit hits. I remember a storm back east a zillion years ago that went from 3″-6″ 48 hours out, to ‘maybe as much as 10″‘ the day before. We got 10″ in the first 3 hours. We measured 38″ in our yard once it stopped falling.
Wile E. Quixote
Is it legal to hunt and kill cable news journalists and pundits yet? If not why? I mean I’m in favor of having some reasonable restrictions, a well defined season, a ban on high capacity magazines (if you can’t take down a slow moving target like Candy Crowley with one shot you have no business owning a firearm), reasonable bag limits and a ban on practices such as jacklighting or baiting journalists by saying “Hey, over here, a white woman is missing” or advertising an open bar and then putting traps around it, but isn’t it well past time we started to thin the herds?
Morbo
Man, we’re getting such a light winter up here snow wise; I’m not complaining. Once again the snow is going south of us and only leaving an inch or two.
pragmatism
i received 3 winger emails re: what happened to global warming? grumpy so replied all with this link: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/noaa-n/climate/climate_weather.html
received 5 replies. 3 attacking nasa, 2 attacking obama for “dismantling nasa” (both from residents of houston). consarnit.
Ed in NJ
All this snow and Egypt news has totally drowned out the latest Breitbart fake pimp expose gone bad.
Planned Parenthood Offering Advice to Pimps?
Gravenstone
It’s simple. CNN was waiting for the Egyptian equivalent of Tiananmen Square. When their military not only wasn’t forthcoming, but had the temerity to proclaim their lack of interest in massacring their countrymen, CNN thus lost all incentive to keep paying attention.
Comrade Mary
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Oh, HELLS, yeah! I went out for provisions last night and was surprised to find a small line up at the liquor store, but I shouldn’t have been.
Thanks God I usually work in my home office. I’ll be out Thursday, and will have to leave extra travel time, but it should be somewhat saner then.
But to John’s main point: our media sucks.
cleek
@pragmatism:
warmer weather = more moisture in the atmosphere = more precipitation = more snow. QED
Carnacki
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Yep.
But if a white woman stripper disappears in Cairo, back to 24/7 coverage
pragmatism
@cleek: was there some sort of mass GOPAC training that happened? my wingnut relatives and their sundry friends have mastered the pivot.
me
@Martin:
From your keyboard to His Noodle.
Culture of Truth
So does constantly watching Fox cause a person to lose interest in normal human contact, or does an aversion to humans lead a person to constantly watch Fox?
PurpleGirl
@New Yorker: The media goes into crazy mode because it’s normal mode or crazy mode, one or the other, no middle ground. I think people get crazy because they are still expected to get to work, to get to school, etc. If you are able to stay home during the snow storms that’s fine. When I was working, I’d save a week of vacation days for use as snow days. (I have a bad back and I try to avoid going out onto icy sidewalks.)
Liberal Sandlapper
If I want to know anything about Egypt I go to Al Jazeera online and/or BBC online. Nowdays, I only go to CNN if Ii want the latest news on the Tea Party or Charlie Sheen’s coke habit.
He’ll, I’ve learned more about the events in Egypt from fucking Twitter!
Brachiator
@Martin:
There is this, however (hopefully all will turn out well)
This worrisome piece of news noted, it is interesting that as far as anyone knows, the current protests are all peaceful.
The big question, though, is even if Mubarak ceded power, who would he cede it too? Is there some mechanism in place to ensure a smooth transition to … what?
Waldo
The trouble isn’t the storm that’s on the way — it’s that storm plus the two that preceded it. Here in New England, we’ve about run out of places to store the snow. I had a huge Ford F550 get stuck in my driveway today while plowing — downhill. Amazing.
John O
“Local” weather porn trumps international big news.
I live north of Chicago, and I’ve been laughing for two days over the hype, have considered this proves climate change is a hoax, and have done the usual, stock up on essentials and grabbing the popcorn. We’re supposed to get slapped around between 6 PM and 6AM per TWC.
Can’t wait to let the dog off the leash tonight to run around and play in it without much risk.
CNN sucks, also. Too.
jibeaux
@cleek:
Yup. Also too, noticed that this has been an unusually cold winter for our neck of the woods, it’s cold today, but they’re calling for a high of 70 tomorrow and it was 70 on Sunday? If I were the type of person who thought weather = climate, eventually you’d have to pay attention to that.
quaint irene
Reminds me of another good line of Jon Stewarts during another really bad winter (1996?) He quoted some newsie, “This will be a storm you can tell your grandchildren!”
Jon quips, “Yup, that’s just what kids want to hear, weather stories from old people.”
Here in NJ we’re mostly expecting sleet and freezing rain. Hunkering down is all fine and good, but I just pray the power doesn’t go out! Which our local news stations keep mentioning every five minutes since they can’t freak us out with snow totals this time.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
@Liberal Sandlapper: SPEAKING OF AL-JAZEERA
Please use this form to ask you cable company to start carrying al-Jazeera: http://bit.ly/gZU67C
Ana Gama
@Brachiator:
As I understand it, Mubarak would cede to a military general in a coup, or to ElBaradei, if the military would back him.
Sentient Puddle
@Ed in NJ: Didn’t Planned Parenthood call in the FBI on this a week or two ago, or am I mixing it up with another story?
batgirl
@PurpleGirl:
Yes. I’m at work right now and have a 45 minute commute home. The boss has finally decided to close at 3PM, so I’m hoping that will get me home and off the streets before the storm starts. As of writing this, there is no snow falling yet by me.
JPL
My son is on a business trip in Waukegan, IL and is due back on Thursday. Being the good mom I did mention that it would be nice for him buy some gloves. haha
A Commenter at Balloon Juice (formerlyThe Grand Panjandrum)
Willful ignorance always cheers me up.
Villago Delenda Est
“Earthquake in Greece: Two Dacron women missing”
This is a very, very rough recollection of National Lampoon’s Sunday Newspaper parody (The Dacron Republican-Democrat) but it pretty much captures the provincialism of so much of American media, even at the national level.
Villago Delenda Est
Oh, damn. I used a word with the dreaded boner pill string it it, so I’m in moderation.
Judas Escargot
@Waldo:
The trouble isn’t the storm that’s on the way—it’s that storm plus the two that preceded it. Here in New England, we’ve about run out of places to store the snow.
I have a corner property, and basically had to give up shoveling on one side so I can at least keep the driveway clear, as well as the “priority” walkway (used by the mailman and the neighbors). There’s nowhere to put it: I have piles deeper than I am tall.
So looking forward to the flooded basement in March, when it all decides to melt at once.
Villago Delenda Est
@quaint irene:
My father actually used the “walked three miles in a snowstorm uphill both ways” to get to school number on me and my siblings when we were kids, when we complained about having to walk a mile to school.
Nowadays, more than three blocks, and the kids need rides!
Turgidson
@Dan:
And today’s younger set will tell their children about how they had to hike 5 miles uphill (both directions!) in the midst of the Great Blizzard to get to and from school/work/other and they never once complained!
aimai
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Yeah. Originally I thought John’s observation deserved to be given a rotating tag line of its own but then I had the same thought as TLTABQ which is “how long before the first albino blonde woman is reported lost in a snowbank?” I’m betting minutes.
aimai
danimal
In my observation, the damsel in distress stories come out on Fox as a distraction when something good is happening (meaning the GOP has lost on an issue) and the base needs to regroup. It gives them a chance to change the focus from politics to Something Else. We’re probably one more good news cycle away at this point.
Ash Can
And in today’s news, a big TV screen has been set up in Tahrir square, and it’s showing…Al Jazeera. Also, AJ is getting reports that Mubarak is going to make another address soon.
aimai
@Judas Escargot:
I think you are in my neck of the woods. Our basement pump gave up the ghost one week before all the mass flooding last year. I discovered it by finding myself eight inches deep in water in the basement. We had to replace it and were very annoyed–until a week later when the same thing happened to everyone else in MA and the sump pumps sold out everywhere. Then we were grateful. I’m thinking of just starting to replace the pump ever two years whether it needs it or not.
aimai
Keith G
The souther leading edge of the weather system eaid hello to to Houston already.
Today was a blood lab day, so I was up early to get out early. The weather front was to move through toward the end of my travel window.
It moved faster and condensed into a thinner and more powerful event than advertised. At 6:15 slight mist; 6:20 30 mph wind; 6:22 electricity goes away….6:23; I walk to the street to asses problem; 6:23:30 tropical storm level rains begin; 6:25 I am changing into dry clothes in the dark. And that was just the first act.
agrippa
When matters get complicated, the ‘news media’ has a tendency to go walkabout.
It may be the ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ syndrome
Stefan
What if the media had given as much coverage to the demonstrations against the Iraq War as they did to this week’s demonstrations in Egypt?
What demonstrations against the Iraq War? If there had been any I’m sure I’d have seen it on the news, and I didn’t, so I have to assume there weren’t any.
Keith G
@Keith G:
With 3 min and 30 seconds left in the editing window, why is WP telling me that I do not have permission to edit?
FYWP!!
Frank Chow
John, you forgot Al Gore is fat and Rahm Emanuel is the cause of the storm.
We’ll be fine in Chicago. I’m looking forward to staying in and watching Firefly.
Stefan
“I love cuddling,” she added. “We didn’t even do that. He was too busy watching FOX News. He didn’t want to cuddle.”
It really, really saddens me that Kelsey Grammer has turned into a full-scale wingnut.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Here in Dallas it started raining hard late last night, and then it got really cold really fast (yes, you need the reallys for full effect). The water froze, leaving a quarter inch of ice everywhere. Then it added sleet on top of that.
On TV this morning the Green Bay buses heading to Cowboy’s stadium were preceded by a sand truck. A tent at the Cotton Bowl for a party on friday and saturday collapsed under the weight of the ice and the force of the wind. It’s right around 20 right now, and will be down to about 12 by 6pm.
dww44
@Wile E. Quixote: You should be a writer for The Daily Show, or The Colbert Report, or Sadly No! or The Onion. Very funny and great satire. Thanks.
JGabriel
@danimal:
More specifically, it gives them the chance to change the focus from Washington D.C. to “OHMYGOD, WHITE PEOPLE ARE IN DANGER!”
.
Villago Delenda Est
OK, just to drive the rest of you totally nuts:
Clear skies, sun shining brightly (look, it’s a UFO!) here in Tracktown, USA, home of your just lost the BCS championship by a last second field goal Oregon Ducks.
BGinCHI
Panic in the streets of Chicago, panic in the streets of Birmingham.
I wonder to myself.
Bob Loblaw
To be fair, the news networks are just switching from protest porn to weather porn. It’s all porn regardless.
There isn’t much for any (American) media to say about Egypt any more after a full week now. The crowds keep getting larger. Mubarak’s got a few more feints he can try to pull, and then he’ll be run out of options for good come let’s say Thursday or Friday of this week.
And after that, literally nobody knows.
steve
@batgirl:
That’s exactly the source of a lot of the anxiety where I am (Chicago area). It amazes me to hear people say, “What’s the big deal? Just stay home.” I work at a university and have lots of vacation time saved up, so I’m taking today and tomorrow off. No big deal. However, my wife works in the dreaded “private sector,” and her boss is still insisting that tomorrow will just be a regular day and everyone is expected to be at their desks at the dot of 8 a.m. Some businesses are putting their employees up in hotels tonight so that they don’t have an excuse not to show up.
I have a brother in Houston who still talks about how he still had to go to work on the day that Hurricane Ike hit. Everyone is terrified of losing their jobs now, and if your boss is saying “show up or else” at the same time that the news media is screaming “stay home” and showing footage of cars in ditches, then yeah, it’s kind of stressful.
I get tired of the weather hype too. But to insist that we should all stay focused on Egypt while a third of the USA is getting shut down by a blizzard isn’t terribly realistic. A storm isn’t the equivalent of Sarah Palin’s Twitter feed.
stuckinred
@BGinCHI: @BGinCHI:
Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven
Blood stains the roofs and the palm trees of Venice
Blood in my love in the terrible summer
Bloody red sun of Phantastic L.A.
pragmatism
@BGinCHI: hang the meteorologist.
Persia
@Ed in NJ: It seems that the national office figured out what happened — but that doesn’t explain the enthusiasm with which this clinic advised the undercover reporters
OMFG I hate Hot Air. How do you think the national office figured this out? THAT CLINIC TOLD THEM. And the cops.
twiffer
here in lower new england, we’ve had at least a half-foot of snow fall every fucking tuesday this year. so, snowstorm, yeah. of course there is a snow storm. it’s tuesday.
i’ve been hearing nothing but OMFG!!!SNOOOOOOWWWW!!! for this one too, but i only tv news i watch is the weather channel, so that’s kind of expected.
suzanne
It’s an indicator of how long I’ve lived in Phoenix that I’m hearing y’all discussing epic snow and shoveling and piles taller than oneself, and I feel JEALOUS. It’s short-sleeves-and-flip-flops weather here. (Okay, maybe with a light jacket.)
Of course, in July, just kill me.
The Dangerman
Have we had the obligatory “how can there be global warming, look at all the snow?” commentators show up yet? Our Storm of the Century, some massive storm bearing down on Australia. Perhaps there is a message in there someplace about global warming….
BGinCHI
@stuckinred:
Chicago calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls
Chicago calling, now don’t look at us
All that phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust
(apologies for the broken prosody)
Brachiator
@Ana Gama:
Certainly possible. BBC news has a page devoted to possible scenarios, not all of them hopeful (Egypt unrest: Possible scenarios). For example:
stuckinred
Wa wa wa. . . the media. . . if you don’t fucking like it don’t look at it. Jesus, motherfuckers will whine about anything.
arguingwithsignposts
Unless Jim Cantore shows up, it’s not really a storm. if he’s there – you’ve got the bases covered.
BGinCHI
@pragmatism:
Win.
JPL
The local ABC station in Atlanta has a storm center from which to report. The weather can be 90 and sunny and they will report from the storm center. When we had our four inches that caused havoc a few weeks ago, my little mutt kept slipping and sliding and somehow related it to the weather people on that station. They now report the weather and my mutt starts shaking. They lost a viewer.
stuckinred
@BGinCHI: God I’m glad that was what I thought it was!
BGinCHI
@suzanne: Stop taunting us.
Seriously, though, the anticipation here is pretty fun. University just closed from now till Thursday.
Bars will be full of folks tomorrow by the afternoon. We’re a hearty people.
JGabriel
steve:
Yes, managers — who are then expected to bitch at lower wage employees who have to drive in, “I made it to the office! Why didn’t you!?”
(Not your wife, just in general.)
.
Pangloss
@Villago Delenda Est: Isn’t Eugene halfway between the Mt. Hood and Mt. Shasta volcanoes?
Sorry, but you asked for it.
twiffer
@steve: can’t tele-commute? the message we get every storm is: bring your laptops home. if you can’t work from home, work it out with your boss or burn a vacation day.
stuckinred
@BGinCHI: Georgian’s Enjoyment of Snow
Villago Delenda Est
@Pangloss:
Not only is it about half way between those two volcanoes, but there are the Three Sisters almost due east, each one over 10,000 feet, each one a volcano.
Plus we’ve got that wonderful fault just off the coast,under the Pacific, waiting to move and create all sorts of havoc.
In the meantime, we’re enjoying the nice weather…before the volcanoes blow.
freelancer
@suzanne:
Stop it. I’ve been working on relocating there for the better part of a year, and last night could have served as a perfect example of why. Last night, after work, I got to my car at 7:05PM. I left the parking lot at 7:45. I’ve never had to scrape and thaw out my car for so long in my lifetime. I frickin’ HATE winter.
suzanne
@BGinCHI:
Having grown up on Long Island, I miss weather. The anticipation you mentioned really is exciting. Plus, there’s something about seeing the best laid plans of mice and men completely disrupted by weather to instill in one some respect for nature and her badassery. A desert city can, at times, feel quite synthetic and denatured, and I do miss the drama of weather events. (Though I do remember how old they can get really fast, too.)
But, like I mentioned, I will be praying for my own death this summer. I have learned that the extreme heat truly is just as debilitating as the snow and cold.
quaint irene
Once Mubarak figures out how to leave without having his assests frozen, something might start to move.
Pangloss
@Villago Delenda Est: It’s a good thing we’re wasting money on “something called ‘volcano monitoring’.”
suzanne
@freelancer: That’s how I feel about summer, strangely enough. Operable temperatures over 125 degrees just… GOD. I’m getting pissed off just thinking about it.
Good luck with your move. Take my advice: move before April.
John O
Breaking!
I was just informed that people “are having trouble driving on the ice.”
This is great shit.
Turgidson
@suzanne:
Butbutbut. It’s DRY heat. So it’s totally not that bad! Tee hee.
Having grown up in Chicago, I will vigorously argue that ~90 and very humid is as bad as, or worse than, 100-110 and dry. But once you’re above 110, it’s pure agony no matter how dry. And it stays hot like that for months in Phoenix, whereas heat waves in Chicago eventually break.
singfoom
I stand as a Chicagoan unafraid of the snowpocalypse. Luckily I can haul my work laptops home and VPN in and no worries.
Let’s just hope comcast doesn’t take a crap though or then I can’t communicate with coworkers or commit any code.
I’m glad my workplace is enlightened enough not to do the “You WILL be here tomorrow OR ELSE BS.”
freelancer
@suzanne:
I was there last April and it was perfect, then in July, it was 95 deg and the humidity here was in the 90-95% range. My friends from AZ came back for a wedding and declared Midwest summers more unbearable. You can’t even sweat here and have it work, the air gets so wet.
MattR
@Turgidson: Humidity does suck. I did not realize that it could get worse than the Northeast until I went to Florida during the summer. I learned that it rains on the docks inside our warehouse in Tampa pretty much every summer day due to the difference in temperature and humidity inside and outside
shortstop
Well, everyone I know here in Chicago is perfectly calm. Maybe we bought a couple extra bags of veggie gyoza and a bonus tub of hummus at Trader Joe’s last night, and maybe we casually checked the flashlight batteries, but good god, the city’s always better off than suburban and rural areas in our ability to get out and about once the snow stops.
I am not looking forward to walking the dog, and we live a block from Lake Shore Drive, so I’m a little concerned about flooding. That’s about it.
J. Michael Neal
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
Until they moved to New Hampshire, we celebrated Christmas with my aunt’s family in Plano. (Talk about a nowhere kind of suburb . . .) From experience, 30 degrees in Dallas is a *lot* colder than ten below in Minneapolis. No one insulates their pipes, as far as I can tell, or the walls, and the construction that causes the summer heat to rise to the ceiling still works in December, so it’s fucking cold at floor level.
Pangloss
The most humidity I ever felt was in Houston in the Summer of 1969. Every time I went outside, it felt like someone threw a scalding wet towel in my face.
chopper
@suzanne:
having grown up in chicagoland, and spent the rest of my life in DC and NYC, i’m done with winter. put me in a land where it’s 75 and clear every day of the year and i’ll never, ever complain about missing winter. ever.
MikeJ
@Pangloss: In Houston it would smell as if the scalding hot towel had been dipped in tar. Their air is worse than Mexico City with none of the charm.
shortstop
@John O:
Take some time out from laughing to learn the difference between climate and weather.
@BGinCHI:
Late to the party, but ah, nice. A wild weather error, but I have no fear, though Chicago’s blizzarding and I…live by the laaa-aaake.
Wow, there are very many Chicagoans hanging at BJ. Cool.
Svensker
@New Yorker:
Um, some people CAN’T stay inside, because they’re out there repairing the downed power lines, getting cars out from under fallen trees, rescuing old people who are stuck in homes without power, etc., etc.
suzanne
@Turgidson: I remember pushing a hundred degrees with insane humidity from my childhood. And it does indeed suck. But I still think nothing sucks like having the temperature DIP to 110 for the first time in a month. The sunburns are awful, and I regularly coat myself in sunblock so thick it looks like mayonnaise. And the friggin’ dryness that everyone says isn’t so bad is hell on one’s skin. I’ve lost multiple pairs of shoes because the skin on my feet cracked and soaked the insides with blood. Nosebleeds, too. The worst part comes in the second half of the summer, when the ground has absorbed so much heat that it radiates up from the ground while the sun is roasting you from above. A professor of mine is nationally recognized for his work studying urban heat island effect. He predicts that in the next two years, Phoenix will have a 100-degree night.
All this, AND we get McCain and Kyl!
Pangloss
From Chicago’s awesome official forecast:
plus
and
suzanne
@chopper:
If you find that place, please, PLEASE let me know. ‘Cause that sounds awesome.
Ella in New Mexico
Here in southern NM, I am preparing to go to work at 630 am tomorrow with temps predicted to be between 7 and 11 degrees. Maybe snow, but it will surely be light and melt as soon as the sunlight of day hits it. I’ll have to walk approximately 5 minutes from my car to the hospital entrances.
And I’m already thinking of making up some illness as an excuse to call in.
I can’t imagine if I lived anywhere where it was a REAL inconvenience to exist in the winter!
Svensker
@JPL:
That is so sweet and so sad. Ahhhhh, poor little guy.
shortstop
Aaaaand….here it comes now. Brrrrr!
dmsilev
@Pangloss: I believe the official forecast is for 23 inches of snow, two inches of ice, and 5 inches of locusts.
dms
quaint irene
I think it’s called Camelot.
{,,and there’s a legal limit to the snow here…in Camelot.”
Maude
Let’s not forget that Oz is going to have dangerous winds with the cyclone. If Lindsey Lohan went missing there, she’d be a footnote.
Ice is serious. A woman on the bus today said her sister in Texas has a lot of ice.
Ash Can
Here on the far northwest side of Chicago, the snow’s coming down pretty good, and it’s pretty breezy. I’ll be fetching Bottle Rocket from school with the car today; it’s not terribly cold, but the wind will be in his face all along the walk home.
BGinCHI
@stuckinred: Nice. Sounds about right for us too….
BGinCHI
@shortstop: Stay strong, girl! Might hit the cafe tomorrow, but prolly too far for you to walk.
Woodrowfan
I am so glad I live in DC as we handle the snow so well in this area. (eyeroll). Actually, we may miss it except for rain (rain?!?) At least I have Dominion Power and not Pepco. (the locals will get that).
Suzdal
It ain’t gonna snow in San Francisco (in fact it’s lovely out) and I don’t watch TV news (Aljazeera plus Twitter with a sprinkling of other blogs) so I’m glued to the Egypt coverage and the only reason I know about the current snowpocalypse is the sad tweets of my snowbound friends. And by ‘sad’ I of course mean ‘tauntable with photos of the local blue skies’.
Maude
@Ash Can:
And debris can fly into his eyes. Good that you are picking him up.
Ash Can
@Maude: Yeah, it’s just too windy. I’m sure he’ll fuss because he wants to play in the snow, but he play here in our yard when he comes home, where he can just run right inside when the wind and cold get to be too much.
matryoshka
Amazingly prompt. This storm arrived in Chicago just before 3, as scheduled. I always appreciate punctuality! We have horizontal snow and a stout wind, so I, for one, am heading out to whatever commuter nightmare awaits. Stay warm, y’all!
Tom
The correct spelling is: SNOMG
Tom
I work out in the burbs. 2-1/2 hours into the city (about 25 miles) at 4pm. Luckily my parents live 20 minutes from my office (or 50 minutes in SNOMG time).
4jkb4ia
LOL. A local news station was all snow, all day, but when it was time for an NBC special report on Egypt they went to that.
(I am about to make portobello mushroom stew with turkey burger)
Tom
It’s snowing in Egypt?
4jkb4ia
They interrupted snow coverage for the NBC special report on Egypt which was simultaneous with Mubarak’s speech. I thought I was clear.
Tom
You were clear. I was just making a bad joke.
asiangrrlMN
Last time we got six inches here, the media was freaking out about it. Um, Minnesota? Six inches in December used to be the norm, remember? As stated upthread, make sure you have enough provisions and stay inside if possible.
Though, I concur that shoveling and ice buildup are problematic.