The Weather Power of the Media

As I write this, the weather reports say we could get up to 18 inches of snow in the next two days.

Tonight I went to a grocery chain store to pick up a few items. Nothing special, I just needed some cheese and some orange juice. Of course, there are always a few other items that just seem to jump into my cart as I make the rounds, but that's another blog.

To my amazement, the place was crowded, more crowded than it would normally have been on a Saturday morning. This was a Monday evening!

What's more, there were people with carts filled to overflowing. The lines, even at the self-checkout, were up to 10 people long, and there were lines at every checkout. To add to my amazement, there were a number of shelves that were empty where items were completely sold out.

I couldn't remember when I had seen the store this busy, or the stock this depleted.

Then it dawned on me.

These people were getting ready to stay in when the snow fell. I guess the term "cacooning" was never more apt than what I must have been viewing. They were stocking up on staples to not have to go out whenever things began to snow and blow.

The media had been trumpeting all day how we were going to get a blizzard that could be the worst of this year (or as some of them would have us believe, ANY year).

So, while I'm not certain at this time how the weather will turn out, I do know that we are driven by what the media tells us is coming.

Right or wrong, they are certainly a powerful force for disseminating the weather...and having us react to the forecasts.