What the ... fearmongering?!??

I wrote this Thursday, February 7th 2013. As the media was scaring the shit out of people over the impending doom of a snowstorm. I am late in posting it.

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We are supposed to get a Winter storm starting tomorrow night. To listen to the media it is the apocalypse coming. They keep reminding people of how bad White Juan was when it hit in 2004.

White Juan was a devastating winter storm. In Halifax, 95.5 cm of snow fell in one day. Winds gusted from 60-80 KPH, with some bursts recorded at 120 KPH. A weather station in Halifax recorded 2 10-second gusts of 147 KPH. With the snow that came down the next day the total snowfall in 48 hours was around 120 cm with some drifts higher than 2.5 metres.  It took a long time for the Province to recover from that.

Now we look at the present. Last Monday Halifax got about 10 cm of snow. Schools were cancelled. Doom and gloom was spread by the media. For 10 fucking cm of snow! I drove to work when the "storm " was at its worst ... and had little trouble. By the time I went home the roads were pretty much cleared up. Unless you were a fucking idiot and drove too fast for the conditions, and we have a LOT of those here, you shouldn't have had any trouble.

The Saturday before we had 10-15 cm. Once again, it wasn't that bad if you didn't drive like a moron. By the time I was driving home it had turned to rain. Within an hour the roads were BARE. Yet when the weather forecasters talk about that period of time they refer to storms. Massive storms. Weather bombs. On Wednesday they were talking about how we were still digging out. Yes, some areas, like Newfoundland, got a LOT more snow than we did. THEY were digging out in areas. Halifax? Hell no.

Now we are getting dire predictions of White Juan like proportions from some media outlets. What are we supposed to get? 20-35 cm of snow starting late Friday night with most of it hitting Saturday. So, lets call that a 36 hour period of time. The wind will gust from 30-45 KPH overnight and may gust up to 60 KPH Saturday. If you listen to the weather forecasters you should prepare for Snowmageddon. Seriously, this is how the fucktards are building this up.

White Juan                                                                                 Friday/Saturday

95.5 CM in 24 hours 120 CM in 48 hours                                20-35 CM of snow in 26 hours
 main winds 60-80 KPH                                                           main winds 30-45 KPH

Yeah, it REALLY sounds like another White Juan. (Can you feel the sarcasm?) It sounds like what we would call in the 90's, before the pussification of Canada, a bad winter storm. Some form of Snowmageddon? Fuck off.  

Now the media gets their basic weather information from Environment Canada. Then they put their spin on it whether for current weather or predicting future weather. Here is what Environment Canada has to say while the media meteorologists are predicting total doom and gloom.


Halifax Metro and Halifax County West
3:33 PM AST Thursday 07 February 2013

Winter storm watch for Halifax Metro and Halifax County West issued

Strong winds, snow and blowing snow beginning late Friday night and intensifying on Saturday.

This is an alert to the potential development of dangerous winter weather conditions in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..listen for updated statements.

A low pressure system will intensify as it passes near Cape Hatteras on Friday before tracking south of Nova Scotia Saturday night.

This system will give snow at times heavy, strong northeast winds and blowing snow to Nova Scotia Friday night and Saturday. These conditions will persist Saturday night and into Sunday morning for Cape Breton and Eastern Nova Scotia. While it is too early to give an accurate estimate of snowfall potential, some guidance is indicating that amounts in excess of 30 centimetres are possible for parts of Nova Scotia. Also there may be periods of ice pellets or freezing rain along the Atlantic coast starting Saturday and extending into Sunday over eastern regioins.

Strong northeasterlies and northerlies over the Gulf of St. Lawrence may also give higher than normal water levels late Saturday and into Sunday, and will push pack ice into north to northeast facing shorelines. 


In other words, it could be a bad storm but it is too early to say for sure. Be prepared. I understand that the media panders to fear for ratings but this fear mongering is ridiculous.  

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As I wrote this, in the aftermath of the ... winter storm we got the ...  fact the media does nothing but fear monger remains strong. Or is stronger. I heard words like White Juan, Snowmageddon, and Weather Bomb bandied about by various media outlets. It was all a lot of BS. What we got hit by was what we would have called back in the 90's a snow storm. Nothing more. Nothing less. It was not the next White Juan. It was not some cataclysmic event. It was a god damn winter storm. That is all.

Canadians have become pussified to winter. The media helps this happen.                                                                              

A real snow storm is hitting.

We have a snow storm hitting us today and I want to say something about HRM and the road care before I post a rant that I wrote the night before the storm hit.

The storm started late Friday night. High winds and some snow. I heard snow plows out at 2 AM Saturday morning. I left for work at 3:10 AM and the roads were in decent shape. Not scraped to the pavement, but then again I don't expect that. The side streets I took were in good shape. The main roads in better shape. I took my time, 40 minutes instead of 20-25 to get to work. That includes a stop at Tim Horton's for coffee.

Overall, I remain impressed with how prepared HRM and the road crews were. Thank you for getting it right. Keep up the great work. PLEASE!

HRM and Winter Road Care

They, meaning the Halifax Regional Municipal Government, wonder why people get so pissed off about the way they take care of the roads in the winter. The answer can be summed up in one word; inconsistency.

Last Wednesday, January 16, they were calling for 10-15 cm of snow starting around noon. HRM had salt trucks out at FIVE AM!!!! The snow started, lightly at first, around 11:30. The roads were more than ready and the plows were ready. By the time rush hour started and the roads were ok. Sure there were some fender benders, mainly due to idiots driving too fast for the road conditions. The plows had been and were still out. Schools didn't have to be closed early.

Today, Tuesday, January 22nd, we have snow. They were calling for it to start overnight. It didn't start until around 6AM. Were the salt trucks out and the plows on standby? No. I took the dog to the park for a walk at 7AM and the roads were shite. No salt trucks had been by. NO plows had been by. I was on bus routes for the most part which HRM says are the FIRST places salted and plowed. It was pathetic. At 9:30 I had to take my mother out. The roads still hadn't been touched. At Noon I found myself out again and the roads were still in sad shape. By 1 PM I had seen ONE plow. The MIDDLE of my street, which is part of a bus route, had been plowed. ONLY the middle. Which of course meant that fucktards treated it as a one lane road.

Schools had been closed or rather NEVER opened because of the "storm". The previous Wednesday they didn't have to close early. The snowfall was pretty much the same both "storms". What a wild difference from the way the city responded a week before.

Why the blue hell would the response to snow be so inconsistent? HRM will whine about not being able to please everyone but this goes beyond that. It smacks of incompetency in the staff who are in charge of dealing with winter roads. They get their weather information from the same source I, and many others do, Environment Canada via the Weather Channel. Yet they can't seem to get their act together.

HRM often tries to use the excuse that the weather took them by surprise. The snow Tuesday was LATE starting so how the hell were they NOT ready? Inconsistent. Incompetent. One does lead to the other.

What the ... wussification?!?!?

Our parents were right. Our generation were wimps compared to theirs. The current generation are a bunch of pussies compared to mine. What brought this revelation on? being home in the winter and seeing what conditions constitute a "snow day".

Today in the Halifax Regional Municipality schools are closed. Why? I have no fucking idea. I woke up at 7:30Am to a clear blue sky and a lot of wind. Not hurricane winds, just strong winds. I also woke up to hear that on this bright sunny day schools are closed. Why? It WAS snowing in the wee hours of the morning in parts of Nova Scotia. We MIGHT get a snowstorm today. What the hell?!?!?

Not to play the role of SNL's Grumpy Old Man but this is insane. When I was in Elementary School we walked to school in blizzards, and school wasn't a 10 minute walk from home. It was more like a 20-30 minute walk on our stubby little legs. When I was in Middle School I had to take a bus and it showed up even in blizzards. In High School the walk was only 10 minutes or so but it had to be HORRIBLE out for school to be canceled. When I was in University they never closed you were supposed to use your own judgement. If you thought it was too bad you didn't go. Now if there is a HINT of a storm they close the schools.

Mind you a lot of the fault lies with parents who get their panties in a bunch if little Johnny has to walk in the snow. God forbid they dress their kids for the weather and even help them on the way. Maybe it is because they weren't molly coddled that much as a child so they do it to their child. Parents don't have to use their own judgement and can foist all the blame on the schools for days like today.

I understand closing the schools when it is storming. It isn't safe on the roads for the buses, or for those walking. Considering the crappy job HRM does on the paths kids use to get to school here I would be worried too. But to cancel school because there MIGHT be a storm is a tad silly. Your child might be hit by a meteor falling from the sky. You'd better get a cast iron roof and do home schooling.

Our parents were right. The next generation are pussies. But they had a hand in making them that way.

Smells of Winter

Just like summer has some fantastic scents so does winter. It seems as though the cold air enhances the olfactory sense. There is nothing quite like the smell of a wood fire burning on a cold winter day. Kind of like a mowed lawn and salt water in the summer.