Here it is only a few days after Christmas and we got our first snow storm of the season. I like snow simply because outside looks like a giant sugar bowl has been overturned and poured its contents over all of nature. If the weather is going to be cold, there may as well be visual interest.
Another thing that amuses me at least once every winter season is how people invade grocery stores and gas stations as if an apocalypse is impending. It only takes one confident announcement from the news media that snow is on the way and as if on cue, an ancient genetic switch is flipped within people. They become filled with a nervous energy instructing them to buy large quantities of food and a readiness to bunker down in their homes for days as if a disabling storm rages outside. It is for this very reason that I don’t venture out a day or two before an announced storm. The grocery store environment is similar to a boiling pot of water where the people are like erratic molecules bumping into each other. Just like a boiling pot of water if I get bumped too much, I will blow my lid off.
Why do we humans still have that overwhelming instinct to stock up and lock down when we hear snow is coming? Perhaps evolution hasn't caught up yet. In the area where I live, there is a grocery store within every ten miles. That convenience offers to always have in our homes the essentials such as milk, eggs and bread. Also, with the technology in our cell phones alone, we can get email, watch movies and maybe even reposition a few satellites. So knowing the weather forecast for the week isn’t at all difficult, making planning very easy.
I’ve noticed a trend year after year that weather forecasters predict snow for Christmas. Most times they’re wrong. Out of habit, I check the weather daily to see what the high temperatures will be as well as if there are any storms in the near future. All week long, there was a prediction for some snow on Christmas weekend. Then on Christmas Eve while watching tv, the weather lady on the news station reported that the computer models showed the snow storm was not going to affect our area at all. Computers are not infallible, right?
On the morning of the day after Christmas, I did my usual routine of checking email, reading some news and of course, perusing the weather forecast for the week. To my surprise, there was a small link on the side that read, “Winter Storm Warning”. I was even more surprised after clicking on the link that it said our area was going to get eight to ten inches. Within minutes I get a text from my brother, Matt, who happens to share my slightly obsessive need to know the weather. “I’m heading to the grocery store. We’re going to get a storm.” I get that sinking feeling that I should probably go to the store too. Being that my sister hosted Christmas day brunch and I was sick with the flu just days before that, I didn’t have much food. I didn’t want to endure the chaos I knew was ensuing at the grocery store. I convinced myself that although I didn’t have the usual supply of food goods I like to have on hand on any given day, I had enough to get me through to the next day. I would have to get very creative culinary style. Hmm, how about canned beans casserole?
A few hours later my phone rang. It was Matt telling me how obnoxiously crowded the grocery store was. He also told me how he had seen a car flipped on its roof on the highway even though there was very little snow on the ground. I told him to be careful and get home quickly. “I’m just going to make a quick stop at the gas station and then head home,” he replied. As we continued to talk about other things, suddenly his tone changed to frustration. Apparently, there were long lines at the gas pumps. People were filling up gas cans for their snow blowers and possibly generators since this was the first storm of the season. Matt is not one to be slowed down when he’s on a mission of any kind so he drove by and headed to the next gas station only to find the same crowded situation.
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