![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Why is weather such big news? I mean, it's nothing new. Weather has been arounda long time. It never fails to amaze me the amount of press that some -20 temps with generate -- temps that are well within the "normal" range of January temps.
Recent headline: Wisconsin Officials Urge Caution in Cold Snap. Duh! It's -20! Of course you have to be cautious. Have we actually devolved to the point that we need the government to tell us that which used to be common sense?
When did *wind chill* become so in vogue? Did someone actually say "Well, it's only -15, might as well go out and sun bathe. Oh wait! With the wind chill it's -45. OMG! I'll stay inside and not risk fatal exposure!" Wind chill saves lives!
Take it from someone who grew up in these elements: -20 is damn cold. Add 10 - 20 mph wind and it's still damn cold. Add to that that machinery doesn't function as well, fingers don't work as well, it hurts to breathe and when you walk around a building into a gust of that 20 mph wind, it steals your breath away. But the cows still need to be milked, the rabbits need to be fed, the water troughs need to be thawed and the snow needs to be shoveled. Just like they did 50 years ago or 100 years ago or 150 years ago.
That's not news, it's life.
Recent headline: Wisconsin Officials Urge Caution in Cold Snap. Duh! It's -20! Of course you have to be cautious. Have we actually devolved to the point that we need the government to tell us that which used to be common sense?
When did *wind chill* become so in vogue? Did someone actually say "Well, it's only -15, might as well go out and sun bathe. Oh wait! With the wind chill it's -45. OMG! I'll stay inside and not risk fatal exposure!" Wind chill saves lives!
Take it from someone who grew up in these elements: -20 is damn cold. Add 10 - 20 mph wind and it's still damn cold. Add to that that machinery doesn't function as well, fingers don't work as well, it hurts to breathe and when you walk around a building into a gust of that 20 mph wind, it steals your breath away. But the cows still need to be milked, the rabbits need to be fed, the water troughs need to be thawed and the snow needs to be shoveled. Just like they did 50 years ago or 100 years ago or 150 years ago.
That's not news, it's life.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-01-17 03:21 pm (UTC)From:It's like all those folks who are life-long Chicagoans who FREAK OUT with "BUT IT NEVER DOES THIS *WOE*" when we get flurries in October. Dude...there has been snow on the ground half of the Hallowe'ens I've been up here.
They freak when it snows for T-giving and DOOD...in So IL we had snow 1/3 or so of t-givings.
When it warms up in late Feb or early March and everyone is like, "YAY! Winter is over!" and then feel personally betrayed when it snows again in March LIKE IT ALWAYS DOES. Even downstate there is always now in March (even if it's only flurries) before winter is over. And up here, half the time, there's a snow in April. And they forget EVERY TIME that this ALWAYS HAPPENS and that over HALF the Easters are FREEZING COLD.
When it's COLD in the WINTER. Ummmm.....
Yeah. Reality-based reality would be really, really nice, even if I don't expect it any time soon.
ETA: Course, given this selective memory, I suspect it IS wise to warn people about the fact that COLD is COLD and can HARM you and you need to dress appropriately and be prepared and....DUH. But clearly it's not a DUH but a Brand New Surprise Every Time for some folks.