Author Topic: Ice Hysteria '07 (Read 450 times)

Airscrew · « **on:** January 19, 2007, 01:12:26 PM »

I just wanted to share this with all you non-Austin tx types. John Kelso is probably the only reason I still buy a newspaper but only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays

COMMENTARY: JOHN KELSO

Thanks, TV guys, for Ice Hysteria '07
We have them to thank for staying home on Austin Winter Warning Freakout Day
Friday, January 19, 2007

It wouldn't take a Nobel laureate to figure out why News 8 Austin and the other local TV stations painted this week's pantywaist ice storm like it was nuclear winter.

At first I thought the coverage of gloom and doom over a little ice was because there aren't any chili cookoffs to cover this time of year. But then it occurred to me that the channel 8 folks made a big deal out of this wimpy ice storm because they have a TV station.

So naturally they want us to stay home and watch it.

This is smart marketing. Your dentist tells you you need your teeth cleaned, right? And your barber tells you you need a haircut.

So why should we be surprised when the TV weather dudes tell us that, for our own safety, we should stay in the living room watching them standing out by the highway in a fuzzy coat?

Oh my God. You would have thought these weather geeks were covering the end of days. My favorite was the female TV reporter who interviewed the guy who was waiting it out in a convenience store in Williamson County because the roads were too icy to keep driving. She was treating the story like the guy was holed up in there. What a hardship. Imagine having to exist on caramel lattes, peanut patties and Doritos.

I can hear it now. "I dunno if I can make it; all they got in here is Starbucks."

The trouble is that the weather really wasn't all that horrible, and the roads weren't, either. The only difficulty I had during this storm is that when I got where I was going, nobody was there, and everything was closed. And it was starting to tick me off.

On Tuesday afternoon, I tried to go to the movies at the Regal Metropolitan 14 in South Austin, and it was closed. Apparently the popcorn guy was snowed in by a quarter inch of sleet. The same day, nobody delivered my mail. What happened to that old "neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow" philosophy? Has this been replaced by, "What are you? Crazy? You expect us to go outside in this stuff?"

Thanks to the urging of weather people, Austinites spent much of Tuesday and Wednesday staying home sitting on their butts. Not that this is all bad. One of my strengths is goofing off.

But don't try to tell me the weather brought the city to its knees. No, what brought the city to its knees was the weather forecasters warning us to stay off the streets by showing these large areas of pink approaching on radar.

Why do they use pink? Are they trying to tell us that Paris Hilton is coming?

You call this an ice storm? If you scraped with a shovel you could have scratched up enough slush to build a snow midget.

What a joke. The roads were safer during this storm than they were back in July. Why? Because, thanks to the TV weather wonks, there was nobody on them. And what few drivers there were were so weirded out by the TV warnings of death, doom and destruction that people were driving 20 mph.

So anyway, I'd like to thank channel 8 and the rest of them for creating a new holiday: Austin Winter Warning Freakout Day. We should make it an annual event, like Spamarama.

jhookt · « **Reply #1 on:** January 19, 2007, 01:15:50 PM »

lol that's funny. although on the flip side of that the roads up here in the the DFW were prettty bad. not to defend hysteria causing media types, but if the weather up here could be judged as a precursor, then the predictions for down there in Austin weren't to far off course IMO

Tarmac · « **Reply #2 on:** January 19, 2007, 01:21:19 PM »

Do they even have infrastructure for dealing with this kind of stuff down there? Salt trucks (with big enough salt stockpiles to keep them running), plows, etc?

I can see how things would get pretty bad if those weren't available.

Hornet33 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 19, 2007, 01:21:20 PM »

Dude you hit it right on the head. It's the same way out here in Virginia where I live. Last year my kids school was closed because they THOUGHT it was going to snow. We got nothing that day but a few little flakes that melted before they hit the ground. I felt like an idiot calling into work to tell them I had to stay home with the kids because school was closed.

Airscrew · « **Reply #4 on:** January 19, 2007, 01:32:56 PM »

I sat at home tuesday and watch the reports and read the warnings and the road closures on TxDot online. Kelso's right, a lot of doom and gloom. I had to go to the store Tuesday evening about 5pm. Previously I had gotten all the ice off my car. Its 20 miles from my house to Bastrop for the nearest HEB. I drove about 40-45mph, I crossed at least 8 bridges, and I only found 2 slippery spots, and they werent that big of a deal. There were people here at work that said they couldnt come in because there was ice on their steps at their apartments and they were afraid they would slip and fall down !! Another guy said his car was covered with ice and he couldnt get in it !! Come on, it took me about an hour to get all the ice off my van, and no ice scraper either.
Sure overpasses and flyovers were bad, but TxDot closed those and it is possible to get around Austin with out using IH35.
the only reason i stayed home was i didnt have anything to do at work anyway, rather stay home and do nothing.

Tarmac, City of Austin and counties have sand trucks and deicing chemicals. In fact the news stations had stories on how all the trucks were on standby waiting for the big ice storm.

jhookt · « **Reply #5 on:** January 19, 2007, 01:39:46 PM »

didnt they also say that the city of austin had run out of sand and was waiting on a new shipment but they weren't sure how it was gonna get there because of all the closures? and i know i saw a story about 100 semi trucks pulling over in boerne cause of bad conditions. how far is that from you?

Airscrew · « **Reply #6 on:** January 19, 2007, 01:52:37 PM »

Well i didnt hear that story and I cant find anything on it. Boerne is about 45 miles from Austin. When I drove in Thursday morning there was sand everywhere though. Now there was a story that the airport ran out of deicing chemicals for the airplanes so flights were cancelled

AWMac · « **Reply #7 on:** January 19, 2007, 01:53:18 PM »

We got 4+ inches of ice last Friday. People by the thousands still have no power and have to stay in shelters. Trees are down all over. Caved in roofs from the weight of the ice. Traffic accidents and frozen dead people.
Sounds really funny huh?

We're not looking forward to the additional two or more feet of snow projected for tonight and tomorrow.

I guess I'd rather be an Okie than a Texan. We pull together here. Neighbours checking up on each other helped to keep the death rates down.

Mac

Airscrew · « **Reply #8 on:** January 19, 2007, 01:57:22 PM »

We aint takin about Oklahoma Mac. I saw the pictures from Oklahoma, thats a bad storm, Austin wasnt even close to that. mass hysteria for an inch of ice

Maverick · « **Reply #9 on:** January 19, 2007, 02:38:21 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Airscrew
Well i didnt hear that story and I cant find anything on it. Boerne is about 45 miles from Austin. When I drove in Thursday morning there was sand everywhere though. Now there was a story that the airport ran out of deicing chemicals for the airplanes so flights were cancelled

Boerne is outside of San Antonio some 30 miles to the NW. Austin is NE of san Antonio. Of all the highways, I'd have figured I-10 and I-35 would have been cleared for sure. Especially I-10.

Who wants to go to Austin?? That's the Texas version of San Francisco!!

jhookt · « **Reply #10 on:** January 19, 2007, 02:50:03 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Maverick
Boerne is outside of San Antonio some 30 miles to the NW. Austin is NE of san Antonio. Of all the highways, I'd have figured I-10 and I-35 would have been cleared for sure. Especially I-10.

Who wants to go to Austin?? That's the Texas version of San Francisco!!

tread easy little buddy Texas is God's country

Maverick · « **Reply #11 on:** January 19, 2007, 02:54:37 PM »

So you're saying that Austin is proof positive God has a sense of humor then. Gotcha.

A sense of humor kinda like AWMac and Meatwads though......

lasersailor184 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 19, 2007, 03:01:07 PM »

I think it's hilarious that every piece of non-purely average weather is a sign of global warming. Immense snow storms in Denver? Global Warming, Check. Odd heat in Pennsylvania over New Years? Global Warming, Check. El Nino being the cause of it? Global Warming, Check.

jhookt · « **Reply #13 on:** January 19, 2007, 03:10:06 PM »

Mac is a pretty funny guy if you are into "i'm so dam old jokes." i've have done the best i can to enlighten everyone who asks about the great state of Texas but i fear so many people live down trodden lives that thier senses reel and thier minds reject the thought. life in texas is one of those things you have to enjoy to understand which i guess is why so many people just dont get it and hate the fact that they probably never will.

i dunno wether you are seriously degrading my home state or if you just happen to be on the "Only 2 things come from Texas" bandwagon, whatever the case may be i feel sorry that you dont get to enjoy the Texas lifestyle.

lukster · « **Reply #14 on:** January 19, 2007, 03:46:10 PM »

I wouldn't go so far as to call Austin a version of San Francisco but it is pretty damn liberal so far as that's possible in Texas. It's not surprising they're afraid of a little ice.