Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Severe Weather

Did you ever notice that weather makes headlines just by existing? No matter what is going on in the world; war, kidnappings, economic downturns, sports...all of it can be wiped out by a massive thunderstorm, high winds, or... snow in October.
I realize that an October snowstorm is unusual in itself, but it's interesting to wonder what kind of headlines the TV and print news would be blaring if there was no snow yesterday. People everywhere were making comments and sighing, as if this was the portent of the worst winter ever.
It's a weather ANOMALY! Get over it!! We are here in New Jersey, where there are 4 distinct seasons. All the weather gets their share: heat, cold, rain, wind, snow, and nice weather too.  
There is still other news out there, like the upcoming election (perhaps we have election fatigue and the weather provided a respite). There is other news like the World Series (oops, game 5 was suspended due to rain. That in itself was a headline, it's never happened before. Which makes me wonder why football can be played in the rain but baseball can't. Aren't they both dangerous in less than optimum conditions? But I digress).
Certainly there can be other news found besides severe weather. But we are a nation of weather watchers, students of the elements if you will. We stay glued to the TV whenever there is something happening in the atmosphere, myself included. That's not really a bad thing. Without weather what would small talk consist of? 
In any case, the snow is over with, for now. Things will get back to normal and the real news will come to the forefront again. It's all just a big cycle.....

1 comment:

nighthawk said...

This reminds me of Natalie Merchant singing" Like The Weather ". Some of my best poetry has been about weather and a great majority of my weather poetry is about Autumn but all the seasons are in there. But most of you reading this don't know who the he** I am but Magnolia does. You know.. the wind is a juggernaut..leaving is like a hurricane..pitter patter rain. Enough already. Some great songs have been about the weather. Stormy Weather by Lena Horne, Raindrops by Dee Clark, Rhythm of the Rain by the Cascades, Bus Stop by The Hollies and probably my personal favorite that soul smash "I want to go Outside in the Rain" by The Dramatics.
Yes where would we be without the obligatory "some weather we've been having lately". Or it looks like it's gonna rain. And of course all the great sayings emanating from the weather. Look what the wind blew in. He was three sheets to the wind. Don't rain on my parade. And we even involve animals in this discourse. It was raining cats and dogs. He was madder than a wet hen.