Okay, a little rant.

In 2012, The Weather Channel started naming low pressure systems occurring in the winter months across the US portion of the North American land mass.

The latest installments here in the lower mid-west were Titan … which was decidedly un-titanic. And lately, Vulcan, a logical embarrassment for Spock.

The spin has gotten so out of control (perhaps driven by the stupid mess in Atlanta a month or so ago) that the National Weather Service kept peddling the supposed danger of these storms right through the empty radar images all the way to the expiration of their breathless warnings.

In the case of Titan, 5-8 inches of snow was still forecast for our area after the squall line exited the state and the sun was peaking through. True result: About an inch and half lay on the drive.

This incessant cry of wolf is obviously not good for distinguishing real from faux danger. But it did lead to another traffic mess. Not because of people driving in the snow … but because of people NOT driving in the snow! The whole town essentially shut down on Sunday when Titan was due to hit. So there was little friction working to melt the snow and film of ice off the roadways. The cold night that followed meant road treatments failed and the Monday morning commute was totally destroyed.

Winter happens. It can be depended upon. That means cold, snow and ice and other MINOR inconveniences … the costs of living in the temperate zones of the world with all their numerous advantages to human habitation.

But making winter into a giant, civilization threatening event every time enough clouds organize themselves  into a weather system does not help. Instead, we are being conditioned to cower before winter versus stepping up to the challenge, doing a bit of shoveling, and moving on.

To my mind, the naming of winter storms by The Weather Channel (and the publicity given by their various accomplices in the media) only causes acceleration of the sad wimping out of Americans. Not every errant snowflake is cause for a bread and milk emergency that literally seizes commerce across the lower 48.  Enough already!