Friday, February 5, 2010

Live Blog: The Storm

It is predictable that local news stations would be blowing up this winter weather with constant coverage and meteorologists offering numerous predictions. What I didn't expect is WTAE-TV to offer up-to-the-minute blogging of the storm. And while I would love to rip the news station for pushing such an idea, I honestly wish I thought of it first. So here goes my Live Blog of the Blizzard of 2010...

12:09 p.m. - Flurries begin to fall in Allegheny County. I pull a blanket over myself so as not to contract frostbite.

12:30 p.m. - I leave for my local grocery store to fight the masses. The shopping trip is needed to buy buffalo wings, chips and dip for this weekend's Super Bowl. Although I have plenty of milk and toilet paper in the house, I briefly consider buying out the store, then scalping the items in a little stand outside the Shop 'n Save.

2:03 p.m. - Well, that was a mess. As expected, hundreds of shoppers crowded the super market in a last ditch effort to buy stuff they probably already have. As I checked out, the cashier commented that it appeared I was preparing more for the Super Bowl than the storm. "You seem to be the only one," she said. "It's those weathermen and their four-letter word that creates all this fuss."

3:05 p.m. - A light dusting has covered the road passing by my house. Although it's hardly a heavy snow total, I'm sure the driving will be somewhat treacherous for evening commuters. In fact, the carpool lanes through Pittsburgh have been closed due to the weather. Still, you'd think PennDOT would've kept them open until after 7 p.m. today.

4:16 p.m. - The snow ain't stopping and the secondary roads are slick. There has been no hint of a salt truck on these lesser used roads, but main thoroughfares like Interstate 79 and Washington Pike near Bridgeville are clear. Walked by a man in my neighborhood while he was sweeping his sidewalk, and he told me the forecasters are now predicting up to 10 inches in the area. That shouldn't come as a surprise considering the enormous train of precipitation coming from the south.

4:46 p.m. - Rut roh, it's the heavy stuff. Just finished shoveling the inch or so on my driveway, and it's soggy snow. Might be wise for the working folks to do a once-over upon getting home. Tomorrow will be a bear after we get our total amount and have to dig out.

5:09 p.m. - Some people just don't know how to drive -- or park -- in the snow. My girlfriend, Tiffany, had a little trouble pulling into the driveway while coming over for dinner. Although she plowed into my yard, it did make for a very nice artistic design.

TRAFFIC ALERT: As Scott Beveridge mentioned in the comments section, Jim Lokay of KDKA is updating his Twitter account about the weather and traffic problems. I usually don't think news can be tweeted effectively, but Lokay seems to be doing a pretty good job. Click here to check out his traffic updates on Twitter.

12 comments:

  1. forecasters here say 30 inches...i dont believe them because weathermen are idiots

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  2. That seems like a lot of snow. I hope you already did all your Super Bowl shopping. And good luck getting home from work.

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  3. I'm watching the news and the reporter said the federal government sent all of its employees home in DC. Figures... what a bunch of lazy slackers.

    Did you also get to go home early?

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  4. yeah the gov't had a half day...so i went home at 12. schools were cancelled yesterday before the snow even started. you would think it was the end of the world.

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  5. We can only hope that it is...

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  6. It's 5:42 p.m. I'm still in Washington, Pa., and Jim Lokay puts out a tweet that I-70 is covered from West Virginia to my home near Belle Vernon. I'm scared because Lokay knows his weather shizzle.

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  7. Just take your time driving and I'm sure everything will be fine. It's not getting any better, so it would be wise to head out immediately. I can see from my house that I-79 is slow, but still moving. I'm sure the road conditions are similar in Washington County.

    Good luck getting home, and feel free to comment here on the weather conditions.

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  8. You are so so wrong about Twitter and its effectiveness in moving the news.

    It took me nearly two hours to make it home, a distance that typically eats up 33 minutes of my day. It wouldn't surprise me if I-70 gets shut down before the night is out.

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  9. I agree with Mr. Beveridge about Twitter... considering a tinyurl can lead you off to more in-depth news, twitter is a like mainlining as many feeds as you can handle. It's really incredible once you start getting into it.

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  10. And I thought this post was about snow!

    Twitter can be used by news agencies if they're trying to link to their stories, like both you guys said. Scott, you do a very good job tweeting stories with links to the O-R. But when reporters tweet 140 character stories, then they are failing their readers. Maybe the press doesn't do that as often, but politicians are notorious for offering two sentence comments on Twitter that is -- for some reason -- picked up by a lot of news organizations. We should not break down news and/or policy into a text message.

    What say you, Scott and E ?

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  11. I agree... that's not how you are supposed to use twitter, anyway... Google "twitter is my newspaper"

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  12. As usual: Awesome blog, Jimmity. I laughed out loud at your awesome cashier.

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