Winter weather coverage in the south is the Kardashians of local television news. Nearly everyone sits at home mocking the meteorologists who are promising the s-word, and the poor reporter who drew the short straw to get sent on a flurry hunt through the mountains. But they’re all watching. Facebook statuses make a mockery of everyone who is preparing for possible winter weather. Nobody in the South knows how to drive in the snow, they say. Well, duh. We don’t have snow tires and we’re not trained to handle icy roads Snow plows are not common. We just picked up on salting roads within my lifetime. Those conditions are rare. So sue us… or watch us during hurricane season, we handle that like champions.
People love to laugh about everyone crowding grocery stores to buy bread and milk. They see the television interviews with drivers and shoppers. Oh how silly those people look for preparing for something that isn’t going to happen, they say. Still, the mockers are watching. Television ratings skyrocket when winter weather is mentioned.
People who work in newsrooms joke about how glad they are to be inside the warm gray-walled building. They joke, but they know the story everyone wants to see is the one fronted by the poor girl shivering on camera in a town that was definitely not found without the help of google maps.
Winter weather hype exists because the people created it. It’s just like the Kardashians.
You can drag out the boots and scarves. It really is getting cold. You probably won’t see a significant snowfall anytime soon, maybe not anytime this winter… but you’ll see coverage of the possibility every single time it comes up – and I guarantee, whether you wish for snow or not, you’ll catch yourself tuning in.
Elizabeth LaFleur 