RSSDo We Overreact to Snow Storms?
February 2, 2011
kosmo - See all 763 of my articles
Many of you will be snowbound as you read this, a result of the latest storm of the year decade century millenium. A monster lizard, some have called it. Many of you are handling the situation in stride, but some of you are going a bit crazy.
Whenever I have the misfortune of needing to go to the grocery store on the day before a big storm, the place is always packed with people gearing up. I can understand making sure you have some staples on hand, but there’s a point where prudent preparation gives way to insanity.
This is most apparent on the toilet paper front. I haven’t witnessed this myself, but anecdotal evidence points to people stocking up on the Charmin in advance of a big storm. Seriously? Do you people not have an adequate supply on hand in general (remind me not to be your houseguest)? Or does the storm make people need to go to the bathroom more? OK, there’s a bit of logic in the bathroom being used more, since the whole family is stuck at home … but still, you don’t need to buy a six week supply to wait out the storm.
While it’s prudent to make sure that some of the food you have on hand doesn’t require cooking (lest you lose power), again, there is a practical limit that comes into play. For starters, don’t you already have some food that would suffice in an emergency? I could certainly get by for a few days eating peanut butter sandwiches, Pop Tarts, and dry cereal. Not exactly fine cuisine, but good enough in a pinch. In my neighborhood, the risk of power outages is minimized by the fact that the power lines are buried – meaning that a main line need to go down in order for us to be affected. You know the lines I’m talking about – the ones the power companies generally fix in a matter of hours.
When you get back on the road, drive safely. This means not driving 80 mph in the midst of a snow storm … but it also means not driving 15 mph in flurries on the interstate.
It seems to me that a lot of people overestimate the impact of these storms. While it’s true that some rural areas can get cut off for a week or more, the reality is that for people living in cities, this isn’t common (especially in the midwest, where I live). Weather will be bad for a day or two, and then things will pretty much return to normal. This is modern day America, with cell phones and 4 wheel drives – and reasonably well maintained roads.
I hope everyone stays safe during the storm, and that things are quickly back to normal. Just breathe deeply and don’t panic. And for you goofballs who enjoy the white stuff, enjoy it while you can – spring is just around the corner.
Feb 02, 2011 @ 10:19:41
Yes, we do overreact a bit. However, my husband’s job makes him go out when he really shouldn’t (which makes me mad). Are people really going to give blood at work (if they’re even at work) when they know they have a driveway/sidewalk to shovel when they get home? Probably not.
Yes, I understand that blood is a necessity. However, if people would drive only if necessary, and drive with their brain, all of the blood wouldn’t be so paramount.
That being said, I’m not taking the kids out in this. I’ll let the snow plow drivers do their jobs and get the streets nice and clean. And yes, I’m one of those people using #snOwMG #snowtoriousBIG and #snowmageddon hashtags on twitter.
Feb 02, 2011 @ 10:42:38
I love the white stuff, but agree that people go nuts. At most I’ve been stuck inside for 2 or 3 days, so I haven’t needed 10 loaves of bread. Ironically, our power has been out all morning (at home, not work where I am now) from the ice storm. It was kind of an exciting challenge getting ready without power. I’m just glad that there was still hot water in the hot water heater.
Feb 03, 2011 @ 08:18:32
I was actuall out and about by mid afternoon. Not by choice, though.
I had been working from home since 6 AM, so I hadn’t touch the driveway. Then my daughter had a fever of about 102.5 and I needed to quickly (an hour) dig a path to get to the doctor’s office for the final open appointment of the day.
Total time to shovel was about 4 hours.
Feb 03, 2011 @ 10:10:14
Sorry to here she is sick Kos. I had a teenage son to help me dig out. He asked why we were doing this. I explained that we needed to be able to get out in case of emergency. Again he asked why, so I explained that if he fell and broke his arm (an example of his older brother several years ago) we would need to get out of the driveway to get him to the hospital.
It took two hours to get our drive cleared, then another hour to help the 80 year old man across the street get his done. (Note: My wife is the good christian who sent us over, not me.) My company closed for the day, first time since 1979. I can see that they were ducking responsibilty of having people come in from out in the county whiche will take a couple more days to get cleaned up. I was out shopping by 2:00 in the afternoon.
I am glad that the storm came through on a Tuesday/Wednesday. My normal shopping day is Friday night or Saturday morning, so I did not have to mingle with the the panic crowd.