Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Wolves Forecast

It's been a strange winter, weather-wise. See, it hasn't actually been at all bad, and yet we've been constantly bombarded with warnings. Particularly annoying are those roadside signs, declaring "Snow Forecast" - if they have a genuine concern for the environment then unless they have something worthwhile to communicate now they should be switching those off.

But it's not just those signs. We've been bombarded with weather warnings at the first hint of a breeze, and the forecasts have been positively apocalyptic. And all for... pretty much nothing.

Until last weekend, that is, when it actually snowed, and the snow actually lay where it fell. And, somehow, amazingly, the powers-that-be were somehow taken entirely by surprise, and so weren't ready to clear and then grit the roads. And so, despite the snow falling on and off on Sunday, traffic chaos ensued on Monday.

I was rather glad I had the day off. I picked that one well.

Anyway, the motorway signs are back to it - "Snow Forecast" once again wasted energy across the land. Huzzah!

I can't think why, but when I put together the near-apocalyptic forecasts, the general lack of bad weather, and the failed response when we actually had snow, somehow I'm reminded of the tale of the boy who cried "Wolf!" Maybe, just maybe, our councils recognised that the forecasters were routinely exaggerating, so that when there actually was a chance of snow, they just didn't believe them.

Maybe our weather forecasters could tone down their fervour for the end of the world just a tad, and just give us their best appraisal of what they expect to actually happen? And while they're at it, it would be quite good if our TV stations could perhaps stop treating the News and the Weather as entertainment, and instead go back to actually informing us? Or is that just a crazy thought?

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