It snowed in Alabama on December 8th. Although we southerners listen to all of the traditional Christmas tunes (Let it Snow!, White Christmas, Winter Wonderland), we don’t expect it to actually happen. The snow cramped my travel plans as I made my way to the annual Matchmaker Logistics end-of-year retreat and Christmas party. My flight was delayed and my luggage was delayed even longer (arriving a good seven hours after I did).
Then, the first week of the New Year, what comes along? A bomb cyclone. I didn’t even know this was a thing!
Forget blizzards. Forget arctic blasts. Forget the polar vortex. Now, the weather sounds scarier than a horror movie – first there was Snowmageddon; then, Snowpocalypse, now, coming to a city near you…Snowzilla and the Bomb Cyclone!
As predicted, this “winter hurricane” dumped a whole bunch of snow all over the country, including Hurricane Alley, the corridor along coastal North and South Carolina where you’ll find Wilmington, NC and our corporate headquarters.
Although the folks in Wilmington are quite accustomed to preparing for regular ol’ hurricanes, they have no experience with 4 inches of snow and ice blanketing the entire region. The city has been paralyzed for days. (That didn’t stop some of our faithful employees from making it to work, though. Shout out to Reid and his 4×4!)
This week, the sun is shining again and Wilmington is on the road to “snow-covery”. And although this truly was a snow-tastrophe for many people, I can’t help but wonder why the media insists on snow-verreacting to every winter storm. Maybe it’s good for business – after all, if a snownami or a snownado is coming, people have to stock up on snow-cessities.
As a girl from the coastal South, I know that a lot of folks are now immune to all of the hype and warnings that precede a hurricane. ‘Round Wilmington, people don’t really start to take action for a pending storm unless Jim Cantore shows up. I worry that the same thing will happen with winter storms when the next advertised “winter hurricane” is snowhere near expectations.
Happy Monday,
~Mary
