Just a Chicago winter, nothing more

January 17, 2005

I beleive this came from the Chicago Tribune - writer unknown.

The evening weather news starkly warned of a "severe winter weather advisory." A celebrity meteorologist on the evening news ominously forecast heavy snow, icy roads and the dreaded "wintry mix" (of rain, sleet, snow and ice). Later, prime time programming would be interrupted with crawler emergency alerts about the approaching storm, the oncoming disaster.

I trudged two blocks to the parking garage, pelted by sleet that was driven by a northeastern gale off the lake of 25 mph, gusting to 35. The blast stung my cheeks and covered my overcoat with an icy glaze. My exposed trouser legs were frozen and crackled as I struggled into the teeth of the gale. The notorious winter "hawk" had returned to Chicago.

As I reached the garage, a fellow commuter muttered to me in disgust, "What a [expletive] nightmare storm. This is a disaster. Rush-hour traffic tonight is going to be pure hell." His outburst was totally predictable, but seemed vaguely over-the-top. To be sure, it would be a tough commute, but "disaster"? "Pure hell"? Hey, I thought, this is winter in Chicago. Deal with it!

As I was driving out of the parking garage, my car radio was tuned to the news on National Public Radio. It was reporting the latest update on the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia: "International relief efforts continue to flow into the region as the figures of 150,000 dead and over 5 million homeless appear to be conservative estimates of the scope of this overwhelming disaster." As the windshield wipers swept away the accumulated snow and slush, I tried in vain to process the mind-numbing statistics. Traffic on Michigan Avenue was stop-and-go. No, make that mostly stop -- a river of red tail-lights snaking up the avenue, which was a virtual parking lot. It was going to be a long, tedious commute home on this winter evening.

Following its regular programming routine, NPR shifted from headline news of the tidal wave disaster in the Indian Ocean to Chicago news, weather and traffic reports. The local NPR weather/traffic lady announced with a note of mild hysteria: "A severe winter storm advisory is in effect for Cook, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties." The traffic report that followed was equally chilling: "Major expressways are a disaster. It's slow going on the Kennedy, the Ike, the Stevenson and the Dan Ryan."

We all know the familiar wintertime radio/TV weather/traffic drone here in Chicago. It's all weather hype and traffic hyperbole . . . all the time. It's a tradition embedded in the very fabric of daily life in our winter cocoons. To be sure, our winters are severe, and this storm would be the biggest since 2002. But, disaster? I don't think so. Just ask the victims of the tsunami in Indonesia. Winter in Chicago: Just deal with it, and lose the hyperbole.