March 5th Snowstorm
March 5th Snowstorm
Of course, the primary purpose of a blog is to gauge the pulse of the day. It is suiting then to start my first “unofficial” weather blog about the March 5th snowstorm we’ve had in Toronto (although the system affected much of Southern Ontario and moved eastward to the Atlantic but as the adage goes, “Toronto is the centre of the universe” so I’ll focus more on how the storm affected the city).
I’m fascinated how the media portrayed the storm 12 hours before it arrived. It started with the operatic background music played during the “StormWatch” segment of the The Weather Network. Sheryl Plouffe proudly announced the arrival of the system while Chris Murphy heightened the excitement by flashing various maps showing the possible permutations from this storm. After a dizzying five minutes, I switched the channel and investigated the news stations. Michael Kuss from CityTV predicted between 5 and 15 cm but it’s always a common practice in meteorology to predict a range rather an exact value. It’s a smart move since different factors such as topography and proximity to the lake can greatly affect the snowfall. CFTO News, relying on Environment Canada’s Forecast, had Dave Devall deliver the news but it’s the same story: snow, freezing rain and ice pellets.
If the story is not melodramatic enough, Brian Hill from 680 News proudly proclaimed his weather guarantee for that day. Even before the storm arrived, the hype is too high that at one point I felt like the winter storm story overshadowed the hotly contested Democratic Primary in the US (Shhh…don’t tell that to Wolf Blitzer or else he’ll play a more spine-chilling background music while ending his sentence with “You’re watching CNN).
12 hours later, we got our mixed bag of precipitation and it was evident that there was one party that was not happy. I’m not referring to Obama’s but those who got stuck in traffic, late for work or simply, those who are tired and sick of the winter weather. As for the forecast, it seems like the meteorologists (or wannabes in some tv stations) are somewhat correct in their prediction. Based on Environment Canada’s Special Weather Bulletin, snowfall in the city range between 12-16 cm.
Expect another round of battle this weekend as a storm is developing over Texas and Toronto, as the centre of the universe, is once again in direct hit….or they say so.
