In the media capital of the world, however, the howls are loud after predictions of 30 inches or more fizzled into somewhere closer to five or six. Meteorologists are even apologizing for their somewhat overblown predictions.
The focus, in particular, seems to be about the decision to shut down New York City at 11:00 p.m. Tuesday night. All roads in the region (not just in the city, but in Connecticut and New Jersey, as well) were closed to non-emergency traffic, but Governor Andrew Cuomo also made the unprecedented decision to preemptively shut down the entire NYC subway system. That's never happened in the 100-plus years of the subways due to snow.
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Naturally, some people are upset about the overreaction. It's one thing to clear the streets of cars, but the subway is the lifeline of the city, particularly for those people who work third-shift jobs or have family and friends in other boroughs. Cries of "nanny state"-ism, political posturing, or just plain cowardice are ringing out today.
So, OK, the prediction was a little off, but just about where, not what. And perhaps they overreacted. But, come on. Weather can be unpredictable, and those who have to deal with it try to make the best decision they can based on the information available. They will get it wrong once in a while. I'd much rather they predict big and have it turn out small than predict small and have it come out big. You know?
I suspect this will shame the forecasters into being somewhat less apocalyptic in their pronouncements, at least for a while. I was watching WANE last night and observing that they were so very, very cautious in telling us about the possibility of a freezing rain this morning. Well, they said, the temperature will be hovering at just around the freezing mark, and it could go either way, really, freezing rain or normal rain, so just get up in the morning and make a quick check before you head out. Haven't heard that much honesty out of the weather people in many a moon.
