Snow, Ice, and Sleet...oh my!

It's our first official winter storm and as usual, the weather guys totally missed it on their predictions. We have been hearing about this storm all week - even at the end of last week they were talking about it. Predictions started out at 1-3 inches of accumulation, then moved up to 2-4, and even up until yesterday they were saying we could get as much as 6-10 inches of ice and snow.

Tuesday night while we were watching the weather forecast, I turned to Husband and said, "I feel like I should go buy milk and bread. I don't know why, because we never have milk and bread." (Really, we don't usually have milk or bread.)He reminded me that I was being silly and we decided that we would be fine. And then on Wednesday they upped the prediction again, even predicting that we would have power outtages due to the ice. So I stopped and bought a few cans of soup and some batteries. No one else in the store seemed to be worried about the impending blizzard of doom, because no one seemed to be stocking up on what you might call "storm essentials."

And as it turned out, the cans of soup and batteries weren't necessary. The storm has moved on, and while there is a sheet of ice under the snow, there is no 6-10 inches of anything around here. Yes, the roads are icy, but with the sun out, they will be clear by this afternoon.

So why is it that we continue to listen to the predictions of weather men who seem to hardly ever get it right when it comes to winter storms? Usually when they predict mountains of snow, we get little to nothing, and if they say we'll get a "dusting," we'd better prepare for a blizzard. I just don't get it. I mean, I understand that they can't control the weather and that computers are doing a lot of the predicting. But someone has to program those computers, and sooner or later I hope someone wises up and fixes the software. Or weather guys need to learn a new phrase: "We don't know...."