HEAD FOR THE HILLS-THE SNOW IS COMING!

Watch Falling Snow Sign (Photo credits: www.mysafetysign.com)

Yes, I'm being kind of sarcastic.  Maybe more than kind of sarcastic.

The St. Louis area is under a Winter Storm Warning for a storm that will hit us Thursday midday and end Thursday night.  I just saw a weatherman on TV call tomorrow "a really rotten Thursday".  Schools are closing for tomorrow, and it's only about 6:30 Wednesday night.  REALLY?

When you look at the official forecast map from the National Weather Service, it doesn't look like it's going to be quite the mess the TV people are warning us of.  And when I scan some of the geeked out raw weather data, it's not that much different than the photo below.

I'm not sure 1-3 inches of snow and sleet, which is what the NWS is still calling for, should create the panic in the minds of the TV weatherpeople and the citizenry of the St. Louis metropolitan area, but everyone seems to be freaking out in a big way.  If you're in a place like Kansas City and they're predicting 10 to 12 inches of snow, THEN you freak out.  1-3, not so much.

So the grocery stores are jammed, people are buying their milk, bread, and eggs so they can have french toast while they're snowbound, Sears sent me an e mail telling me it was going to snow and I should run right in and buy a snow blower, and my kids tell me there's no reason to do their homework because they KNOW they won't have school tomorrow.  UPDATE: My kids' school district is closing school tomorrow due to the threat of icy conditions in the afternoon.

Maybe it's my Chicago roots, maybe it's my cynicism that my friends who do the weather around here are blowing this up so they can seem really important and grow their ratings, or perhaps I'm just delusional and we'll all be paralyzed by the storm tomorrow.  Regardless, I'm still not buying it.

I'll be posting video updates on the storm throughout the day tomorrow. Check my Facebook page, my 15 second video updates on Tout, and other outposts on the Interwebz for updates.   Unless the storm completely immobilizes me and those around me.

Related articles

• MoDOT, IDOT prepping roads for winter storm
• News 4's Kristen Cornett follows snowstorm headed for St. Louis
• Storm's arrival in St. Louis could be late-morning on Thursday
• How Does Your Company Stay Productive When a Big Snow Storm Hits?
• Storm may dump a foot of snow on Midwest

Happy World Radio Day

Photograph of a young girl listening to the radio during the Great Depression. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While it's being mostly overlooked by United States broadcasters, today is the UN's World Radio Day.  Not being able to find much from American radio operators or industry trade organizations about the day, I present a program from the BBC World Service talking about World Radio Day, the importance of radio (which I absolutely agree with) and sharing some great moments in radio history. Just click here to hear this extraordinary program. 

Even thought I've migrated to the world of Content Creation and New Media, radio is still my first love and it saddens me that American radio operators haven't taken the opportunity to really embrace World Radio Day and remind people how important a role radio STILL plays in their everyday life.  

Related articles

• February 13th is World Radio Day
• World Radio Day: Helping millions worldwide through the power of radio