Do We Cause “Unnecessary Worry” Talking About Minnesota Weather?

This weekend, I wrote a blog about how we didn't get as much snow as the weather forecast said we might and it was blamed on something called a 'dry slot'. Leading up to the storm, areas of Minnesota were looking at getting anywhere from 6 to 10 inches (maybe more) of snow and many got less than that.

After posting that blog to our Facebook, we received these comments.

Why do we have to blame anything? The media should not have created such unnecessary worry with their predictions and let the weather just unfold naturally. I was doing errands yesterday and my town was in a panic, closing shops/banks/libraries/schools early...only to not have it start lightly snowing about 3 pm.

They should just say, we might see some snow, prepare accordingly...not blast it in our faces on the news, radio, and social media until near hysteria. The world still needs to function!

- MA

Followed by:

I would rather have my family and friends safe and the forecast be light, then worry about my children’s bus getting stuck in the snow( again) and have my community safe. It’s one day! Relax! Hysteria... that one really made me chuckle!

- MS

Then this response:

I agree that everyone should be safe, but the public doesn't need the media's help blowing things out of proportion, they do that on their own. I feel like even a chance of a snow storm gets treated like a crisis nowadays. STAY OFF THE ROADS, DO NOT TRAVEL, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE! That kind of thing...

- MA

Here's my response to that:

I don't know where MA lives but by 3pm on Friday it had been snowing pretty good in St. Cloud and the winds made things worse. Driving conditions were not good and continued to remain slick all day Saturday.

With all due respect, I don't agree with the "unnecessary worry" comment. I'm a husband and father that lives and works here in Central Minnesota. I'm just trying to do my job and report what the National Weather Service or another source gives us. And that's tell listeners what's going on with the weather and what might possibly be coming so they can prepare how best they deem necessary. The reacting with "hysteria" is on them.

When it comes to weather forecasting, sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong. It's not an easy thing to get right. But if we didn't report the storm warnings and possibly dangerous conditions, and it gets bad, and people get hurt, then there would be folks who would say we didn't do enough.

Regarding the "STAY OFF THE ROADS, DO NOT TRAVEL, YOU'RE GOING TO DIE." I rarely ever say that, unless it is really bad. I will say if you have to travel then give yourself extra time, go slow and be safe.

But given that the MN Highway Patrol responded to 559 crashes, plus another 532 spin-outs and 21 jack-knifed semis (that's not including local law enforcement responses), I would say the roads were pretty bad. Some agency's recommended not traveling if you don't have to. Are they causing "unnecessary worry" as well?

The point is, we're just trying to keep people aware and safe. And given that most people are not listening all the time, the message gets repeated frequently.

Oh, and MS, thanks for having our back on this.