02 March 2009

Spinning in their chairs

Today has been utterly gorgeous. The much-anticipated "winter weather event" predicted for this part of the world -- along I-20 at the Savannah River -- didn't materialize and we woke this morning to clear, blue skies, gusty winds and cold temperatures. The dam on the pond is fine and the spillway is, well, spilling away.

Entertaining as always were the meteorologists on our three local channels as the weekend and its storm approached and then progressed. They get to play with all their advanced computer models and forecasting equipment so infrequently and this may have been their last chance this season for a real winter storm. Taking full advantage of their powers, then, they warned and what iffed about the danger, they color-coded and categorized threat levels, they announced school closings and advised staying off the roads.

Alas. While locales to our north received measurable amounts of snow, I-85 running from Atlanta to Charlotte via Greenville turned into a multi-mile long parking lot, and thousands lost power, we watched and waited in vain. And, the worst part -- besides Edgefield County public schools being on regular schedule today? With local programming interrupted last evening for a "live weather update" at just the wrong moment, I missed Andy Rooney.

Had there actually been a storm and dangerous weather? I would have been grateful that our meteorologists were on duty. But, I still would have been amused at their barely contained excitement as they flipped among a multitude of screens, spun around in their chairs and hoped for the very worst.

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