4-6 Inches of Snow = Mass Hysteria

Wow the reaction was over the top.

From the Post:

Forecasters lifted the winter storm warning for the Washington area Tuesday morning after four to six inches of snow fell overnight, prompting the closure of the federal government, schools and businesses.

It was the area’s first major snowfall of the season, and crews worked throughout the morning to clear roads and sidewalks.

The federal government, along with major school systems in the District, Prince George’s, Montgomery and Fairfax counties, were closed. Forecasters called for continued low temperatures throughout the day.

I can understand all the closing. The timeframe of the snow dictated that because it wasn’t supposed to end until early morning. You wanted people off the roads so the plows and trucks could get out and do what they needed to do.

But the coverage on the morning news was ridiculous. And it was on all the stations. Digging out from a major winter storm. Really 4-6 inches is a major winter storm. No a major winter storm is like 8 inches and above. It’s not like we were getting the snow total from New England.

And there was the usual reaction from people:

Some stores sold out of supplies. At a Home Depot in Falls Church, almost all snow shovels sold out Monday — before the first flake had even fallen.

“We sold everything we had,” said Dean Belcher, assistant store manager.

At the Giant grocery store in Fairfax County near Graham Rd. and Route 50, the store’s supplies started to dwindle by Monday evening.

“Yesterday it was the whole ‘end of the world,’ ” said the store’s manager, Dane Pototsky, 22. And it wasn’t just the usual scrambling for eggs and milk.

Pototsky said customers bombarded the registers with overflowing carts of cans of chicken noodle soup, packs of Ramen noodles and super-sized packages of bottled water. Plus, he said, the store had a significant uptick in sales of beer and wine.

From this reaction you’d have thought we were getting four feet of snow. I stopped by the store Monday afternoon. There were many people there and they were buying the same things from the Post story. But at the very most there is going to be one day of disruption if that.

The sun will be out this afternoon. The only problem is the temperature won’t stay above freezing so things will re-freeze over night which could cause problems on Wednesday.

A little later this week more chance of snow. Then really cold temperatures. And plenty of time for more hysteria.