Episode Information

CMS: It's Snowmageddon!
Aired:
02/12/2010
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In this episode:

Two meteorologists discuss why snowstorms send Nutmeggers into an apocalyptic frenzy.

 

Host:
Colin McEnroe
Guest(s):
Contributor(s):
Patrick Skahill
Episode Audio

49:30 minutes (23.76 MB)
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Here's one of the small secrets of life. The best time to go grocery shopping is during the early stages of a big snowstorm, when the white stuff is falling. People clear out, and you can have the place to yourself.

My mother, rest her soul, was one of the great snow panickers of all time. I used try to talk her out of it. She always had tons of food in her refrigerator, but she insisted on trudging out the stores and elbowing her fellow citizens for loaves of bread she had no intention of consuming. I came to see that she didn't want to be talked out of it. She actually kind of liked it. Maybe it connected her to her childhood in a small New England town where -- not that there were any supermarkets to fuss about -- being snowbound really meant something. And maybe all of us are connected, in some atavistic way, to the days when survival was on the line during a snow storm.

You can join the conversation. Leave your comments below or e-mail colin@wnpr.org

 

 


 
Related Content:
Links for this Episode:
Snow Panic!
Geoff Fox: My Permanent Record

Listener E-mail from Kate

Submitted by pskahill on January 21, 2010 - 3:01pm.

In defense of Scott...HE IS FUN, and HAPPY, and very talented.  If someone does not like it? It is only ONE CHANNEL UP.    SCOTT ROCKS!!
 
Bob is also GREAT, accurate, and very reassuring - and its fun in the morning to flip channels....one of them does weather/traffic, the other does traffic/weather, so we weather junkies can get it ALL.
 
Unfortunately, Geoff isn't on in the morning...but i do remember about...15 years ago..he was a LOT MORE ANIMATED, and used to make his anchor desk colleagues "bristle"...well, they are gone, and he is still there.
 
Snow is fun, it is a God given excuse to take a day off, to "not show up" and to go make snow angels.  If we can now get internet at 20,000 feet in the air, what other excuse is there to take a few hours off??
 
Thanks, Colin!!
 
Kate (Sterling...yeah, scary space-time continuum)
 
P.S.  "Whose woods these are, I think I know; his house is in the village, though.  He will not see me stopping here, to watch his woods fill up with  snow......."
...Robert Frost

 

Listener E-mail from Bev

Submitted by pskahill on January 21, 2010 - 3:00pm.

Please tell Bob and Jeff that they were great on today’s show.  It was very enjoyable and personable.  It kept me glued to the radio. 

 

I would love to hear more local state “on air” talent discussing what goes on in CT, both serious and non.

 

Listener E-mail from Katharine

Submitted by pskahill on January 21, 2010 - 2:59pm.

I love the way the local TV station meteorologists keep you fixed to the forecast. with their "storm team", "doppler radar" and all the high tech drama.
 
They fix the viewer with a huge smile and say
" and WHAT's to follow all this rain/snow/sunshine is coming up in the next seven days...find out next " It always sounds soominous and exciting I just HAVEto watch even though it's probably just going to be overcast with a bit of drizzle.
 
 
PS I also lived 4 years in Rochester New York. Yes it may be flat but it is also very windy,lots of drifting snow. Loved to stand out in the snow just watching it fall out of the sky. 163 inches in 2004 and it snowed every day for 23 days. My kids still can't figure why the schoolshave to close in CT. We would just plow, dig and get on with life.
 

Listener E-mail from Lynn

Submitted by pskahill on January 21, 2010 - 2:58pm.
Enjoying the show today! I am a firm believer that folks overreact to snowstorms. I am recalling a storm in early '96 when I was returning sour milk to the store while everyone else was panicking. I had quite a time trying to get the folks there to understand WHY I was returning milk (didn't help that I was 8.5 months pregnant).
 

Listener E-mail from Maureen

Submitted by pskahill on January 21, 2010 - 2:57pm.

I notice that when there's a storm predicted, as it gets closer and closer - the meteorologists roll up their sleeves.  What's that about?  Also, I notice the newscasts have been dumbed down as far as having close ups snow - what snow looks like - the quality of it - whether it balls up or not - the newscasters showing the depth of it using more visual aids…it's getting to be comical - my husband and I do mock newscasts and we really don't have to exaggerate to make them funny.

Listener E-mail from Elisabeth

Submitted by pskahill on January 21, 2010 - 2:55pm.

I lived in Berkshire Cty Mass in the mid to late 90's and was regularly astonished that they would NOT cancel school for predications of 6-10 inches.  It was refreshing.

 

Listener E-mail from Steve

Submitted by pskahill on January 21, 2010 - 2:54pm.

Our joke out here in Lyme is that it is not snow, but "death flakes from the sky".....love your show

Listener E-mail from Paul

Submitted by pskahill on January 21, 2010 - 2:53pm.

Ms. Wolf,

Loved your intro.

And after growing up in MA I just moved to CT from MN. Holyhutheragawd, you wanna see "snow panic", look at MN. If the words "possibility of snow"  are mentioned in the Weather Forecast, folks sprint to the grocery store and hunker down.

And then in a few months it's tornado season!

Listener E-mail from Marianne

Submitted by pskahill on January 21, 2010 - 2:51pm.

Growing up in Rochester, New York,  one learns early to embrace the zeitgeist of winter.
 
The only snow blower we ever had was six pairs of arms, my siblings and I taking turns with the shovel
until yet another thigh-high snow pile was physically removed from our driveway before we could
take the Ford Torino out for a spin on the tundra. Often that task had to happen before we left for
school in the morning, which, of course was never delayed in spite of the foot of snow that fell the night
before. 
 
By winter's apex - the drifts at the end of our driveway and on the street corner were Bus window height.
Snow drifts often gently wended their way up to the second story dormers - making roof-jumping a
common neighborhood pastime amongst the youth set (and quite a few parents). Nobody ever broke a bone
but once Holly Hemstreet had to be fished out frantically by so many woolen mittens caked with snow.
She had gone completely under was buried for a few frantic minutes.  What an adventure we got to boast
around the dinner table that night.
 
It didn't matter what the weather was. We were not allowed to watch television and were ordered outside.
Sub zero temperatures? Wear extra leggings.  Once you lugged the toboggan up the Thompson's steep hill a dozen times,  the only thing you were feeling was the adrenaline rush of losing half your passengers at top speed when you hit the lip in mid-descent and all the kids went airborne.
 
Snow was no stranger. And it was no enemy either. Why? Because in Rochester, they understand the
basic tenets of snow removal.  Plow early. Plow often. And for God sakes don't be stingy with that salt.
 
Our Lake Effect snow zone was a little like Lake Wobegone: Where the women are strong (shovelers) the men are good looking (driving through a blizzard) and the children are above average (playtime inventors in winter). And man - did those folks ever take pride in their snow removal status.

Listener E-mail from Sue

Submitted by pskahill on January 21, 2010 - 2:48pm.
I love snow storms!  I don't know if this is due to my Swedish ancestry, being put on skis as soon as I could walk, my December birthday, or some other thing but it seems hard wired.  I love being snow bound.  I love walking or skiing down the middle of the street.  I love the blessed quiet of the power being out (of course if it goes on for too long it ceases to be fun, but it is still an adventure).  When I  had a Pathfinder, I loved driving around taking pictures of scenes that disappear quickly once the snow stops and the plows get out: highland cattle, their backs covered in snow; the glittering diamonds in the roadway as headlights hit ice crystals.
 
I love your show and wish I could hear it more often.  I live in East Longmeadow MA and the local college stations make reception at my house impossible so I have to drive to a nearby Stop and Shop parking lot to listen. ( You also come in loud and clear from the Hampshire Mall parking lot on RT 9 in Hadley MA.)  I don"t own a computer so that option is out and the library only allows one hour per user per day.
 
One wish- since I don't get to listen daily, it would be nice if you could post future program topics on the site.  There's a place for it but it's usually empty.  I do have the date on my calendar for the Super Bowl ad show.
 
Thanks for allowing me to comment.