Thursday, April 10, 2008

The perfect storm

According to popular opinion, we have been enjoying very fine weather here in Sacramento lately. It's been mostly sunny with temperatures hovering right around 70 degrees for a couple of weeks. I'm not complaining, in fact, I'm taking it for granted. I take the weather for granted a lot, since I chose to live here and there's nothing I can do about the weather anyway.



But alas, the one season of the year when I cannot take the weather for granted is fast approaching. Summer. The worst season of the year. I'll save my lengthy description of how exactly the sun inflictes serious serious injury on me every year. Let's just say, I prefer temperatures to be mild and the sun to be hidden for as much of the year as possible.



The forecast calls for temperatures to heat up this weekend and be in the mid to high-eighties. And sun. Plenty of sun. Lots and lots and lots of sun.



The insufferable morning show DJs on every single station here in Sacramento insist on providing a weather forecast every 4 minutes. But it's not enough for them to just read the forecast. They have to comment on it, you know, to try to make themselves relatable to the audience. And to hear themselves talk a lot.



So this morning, on every radio station I turned to, I heard:



"Eighty-six degrees and plenty of SUN-shine expected for this weekend. Just perfect, perfect weather for you!"



"We're expecting highs in the mid-eighties this weekend and not a cloud in sight. BEAU-tiful weather out there, so get out and enjoy it!"



"We have some GREAT weather coming this way this weekend!"



"The weather this weekend is shaping up to be FAB-ulous! We'll be warming up to around 88 on Sunday!"



"Sunny sunny sunny this weekend. Highs in the upper-eighties. We're all going to love this weather!"



I just want to point out that not ALL of us are going to enjoy this weather. Some of us are going to be miserable. Some of us see this jump in temperature as the premature beginning of a long, hot summer.



Is it too much to ask that the radio personalities stop trying to force their idea of perfect weather on the public? Just gimme the dang forecast without your stupid commentary and go back to making fake phone calls to pretend like you are catching cheating spouses and manipulative co-workers.



Oh, and a note to the TV-people. The weather is NOT NEWS. It's hot, it's cold, whatever. The fact that it's snowing in the Sierras is not a top story. It happens every year. Talk about it all you want during the weather segement. If you must do a weather-story, tell me about how all the power in Carmichael went out for 4 hours when the grid couldn't keep up with the air conditioning demands because of the triple-digit temperatures. Tell me about the avalanche that closed Highway 50. Was anyone hurt? When is it expected to reopen? That's news. Just because weather exists does not mean it should be covered every single day as a top news story.



I know I sound a little cranky. It's probably the heat.

3 comments:

Shauna said...

I think you should come back and visit me. Next week is supposed to be 77 degrees and partly cloudy. I think that sounds like beautiful weather to me.

NG said...

My peeve is that after two days of sun, tv weathermen say "When is it going to rain? This is the WORST DROUGHT IN HISTORY." Then when it finally rains, the same people are all, "When is this rain going to stop??"

I'm with you. Ugh. Summer. Patooey.

Bertie said...

I wuv my summers:) Except I have humidity down here which makes it sooooo much better:)

You are welcome to come visit here- the weather never does what the weather people say. So- if they say sunny- it is cloudy, if they say it is going to storm, it is sunny and not a cloud in sight. It's great! It is a never ending opposite day:)

Come visit!