How Shady Social Media Influencers Uses Scary, False Weather Forecasts For Profit

A computer forecast issued on January 23 indicated New
England would be blasted by a historic nor'easter
tonight and tomorrow, February 2/3. Obviously this
will not happen and we will have calm weather instead.
But social media weather "influencers" are using
these scary but false long range forecasts to
scare and mislead the public for fun and profit. 

 That stupid groundhog in Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil, supposedly saw his shadow this morning, and that allegedly means six more weeks of winter. 

The whole thing is silly of course. First of all, up here in Vermont, we're going to have six more weeks of winter no matter what any rodent has to say. And we know a groundhog can't forecast the weather. 

Punxsutawney Phil is a fun little tradition, but that's about it. 

Speaking of long range forecasts, the computer models that forecast two weeks or more in advance have become a problem. 

There's nothing really wrong with the computer models. It's actually how social media weather "influencers" use them to frighten the public to enhance clicks and revenue. 

On social media, I've seen so many dark warnings of storms or cold waves of the century  this year already that if I had a penny for each one, I'd be lounging in my expensive tropical island retreat by now. 

Sadly, if you want to make money online, you scare people. Let's lay the whole scam out:

THE COMPUTER MODELS 

This morning's run of the same model has no storm at 
all in New England. Perhaps the January 23 forecast
was sort of picking up on that storm you see in this 
forecast east of Labrador. On line weather
"influencers" use scary, inaccurate long range
forecasters to scare people for clicks and revenue

If you look at these models, like the American or European that meteorologists refer to, you'll see a string of forecast maps that show storms and fronts and whatnot crisscrossing the U.S., or whatever map location you're looking at. These computer forecasts typically forecast for up to two weeks out. 

The forecast maps in these models for the next couple of days are pretty good, but then they get less and less accurate as you get further and further into the future.

The maps for a week or more into the future should be taken with a big grain of salt.  The specifics are always wrong. The long range forecasts can give you a general idea of the trend in the weather,  but the can't handle things like the placement and strength of storms.  

For example, I've been saying lately in this here blog thingy that we'll have generally cold weather until mid-February, then some sort of change might be in the works. I'm being purposefully vague. 

The computer models have been consistently saying the first half of February will be generally chilly. But future nor'easters and cold fronts a week or more beyond the date the forecast is issued appear and disappearlike puffs of snow in a chilly February breeze. 

A classic example:  On January 23, I could have frightened the pants off of you with an American model forecast that showed what practically looked like the worst, biggest nor'easter EVER in New England that would hit tonight and tomorrow (February 2-3)

The next run of the American model a few hours later on January 23 didn't have much of anything in New England. Since then, the computer models have not been forecasting anything particularly scary around here. 

Sure enough, instead of the Storm of the Century tonight, we're going to have basic normal, boring early February weather.  It'll get down to near 0 degrees tonight with light winds. Tomorrow will be generally sunny and seasonable (highs in the 20s) with light winds. 

So much for most destructive nor'easter in memory. 

 It looks like the computer models on January 23 did manage to sniff out a storm two weeks in advance. But at such a long range, it was way off on location, strength and orientation of the system.  It was probably the nor'easter that hit North Carolina over the weekend. Which is now the nor'easter that tonight will be somewhere east of Labrador, not over New England. 

The long range models sometimes spit out scenarios a week or two down the road that are virtually meteorologically impossible. It's a case of garbage in, garbage out.  They'll predict a storm in the Bahamas that ends up in New York a week later. Or a hurricane that impossibly strengthens over Pennsylvania. The computer models don't have a lot of information to work with in their predictions for something like 10 days from now. So you get off the charts forecasts.

THE HARM

Those boffo, bizarre long range forecasts would just be a source of weird harmless entertainment for strange weather geeks like me. Except now, some of us are putting these horrifying forecasts online for the public to be, well  horrified by. 

Here's an example. North Carolina, and many other areas of the South have had a rough winter so far. North Carolina had a bunch of freezing rain on January 25-26, stopping road travel in parts of the state and cutting power to many. Then, this past weekend, a nor'easter dumped up to 17 inches of snow in eastern parts of the state. That's an area where it's kind of shocking to receive two inches. 

North Carolinians can be forgiven if they desperately want February to turn out to be sunny, warm and pleasant. 

Well, along comes a Facebook account which I won't name that gives us a forecast for insane amounts of snow during the first half of February in North Carolina and elsewhere.  

This forecast has central North Carolina receiving about four and a half feet of snow over the next couple of weeks. Under this scenario, Atlanta, Georgia would receive three feet or so, and snow would once again dust the ground in places like northern Florida and New Orleans. 

The person who posted this wild forecast wrote, "Definitely not my forecast but when fantasy snow keeps showing up there is probably a reason why."

Yeah, the reason was a bad computer run.  This dude needs to just shut up. 

By the way, I've looked up the seven day National Weather Service forecast for Raleigh, North Carolina. Other than a little bit of light rain and perhaps a thin scrim of snow Wednesday and Wednesday night, no stormy weather is in the forecast for at least the next seven days. 

I'm picking on this one particular social media post with the epic North Carolina snow, but there are zillions of them out there. On YouTube, the headline will be "MAJOR STORMS COMING" with AI images of destroyed cities. Then when you click into the video, the narrator finds ways to hype routine weather. 

Not only do these weird, extreme forecasts scare people, it makes the public lose confidence in meteorologists and weather forecasting in general. Maybe this type of scaremongering is feeding the conspiracy theories that somebody is trying to "control the weather" somehow. 

It also encourages the "cry wolf" syndrome. People see so many forecasts of impending doom that turn out to be fabricated. Then, when a bonafide major weather threats finally arrive, people just say, 'Meh, another false alarm.' These false alarms can endanger lives.  

My rants on this aren't going to stop the fear forecasts on line. There's too much money, and too few morals involved.  

But the next time you see a forecast that says your community will be destroyed by the Storm Of The Century in two weeks, relax. Take a deep breath. Find a reliable weather source like the National Weather Service or your local television meteorologist, and just take their word for what's going to happen. 

 

More Bad News, And A Glimmers Of Good News, Regarding Foolish Trump NOAA Job Cutbacks

Bad consequences are starting to emerge
from the Trump administration's firing
of hundreds of NOAA employees.

The Trump administration's destruction of NOAA and the National Weather Service, along with so many other necessary federal entities, continues apace.  

Obviously, we'll focus on NOAA and other weather and climate entities here, since that's the subject of this here blog thingy, so we'll give whatever updates we can.

I'm saying "whatever updates we can," because everything the Trump administration is doing is chaotic, on again, off again, just going along with the whims of the moment. 

Kind of like a regular weather forecast, what will happen next with Trump and Elon Musk and NOAA and NWS is subject to change. But of course more unpredictable than the weather. 

Speaking of which, I have more evidence that the weather itself will get more unpredictable, thanks to some emerging practical effects of the government slashing. 

The National Weather Service offices in Albany, New York and Gray, Maine this past week announced they are suspending some weather balloon launches due to lack of staff. 

Usually, the National Weather Service launches weather balloons twice a day from 100 sites. These balloon launches take detailed weather measurements through multiple layers of the atmosphere. This data is fed into the computer models that guide weather forecasts.

The fewer balloon launches, the less data goes in, so the accuracy of the computer forecasts goes downhill. 

Meteorologist Mallory Brooke, writing on Facebook, explained it this way. 

"Weather balloon launches are critical in understanding what's happening in the atmosphere. Weather isn't created on the ground, it's above our heads! These cuts will have huge implications on forecasting, data accuracy, reliability, and ultimately knowledge of what's coming our way. AI *cannot*  replace this --- this is the core of how our computer models are initialized and run. 

It's like trying to bake a cake but you're going to guess what temperatures to set the oven at. Doesn't usually work out well. These are sad days for the science community as a whole."

Balloon launches were previously canceled up in Alaska, which is bad because there's already a dearth of data from the far north, which is often a weakness in computer models, This will just make it worse. 

MORE FIRINGS CONFUSION/FEARS

There's been conflicting reports of whether some NOAA employees that were fired under Elon Musk's DOGE hatchet firings were reinstated or not.

An unknown number of some probationary employees -  individuals who have worked for their federal agency for less than year - have been reinstated. For instance, three meteorologists let go from the Boise, Idaho National Weather Service office reportedly have their jobs back. 

Also, the building housing the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma appears to be off the closing list, at least for now. The center is a hub for weather research, forecasting and supercomputers that house crucial computer model data. 

Meanwhile, there are reports that more NOAA firings are in the offing. 

Details are emerging about the kind of forecasting and disaster services and activities going away because of the cutbacks

Hurricane Hunters

Included in the chaotic firings appears to be a group of hurricane researchers, two hurricane hunter flight directors and an engineer. 

The hurricane hunter cutbacks are concerning to say the least. These are the seemingly crazy people who fly planes into hurricanes. Their work is invaluable. The dense data the collect from flying into these storms are critical in helping forecast where the storm is going and how strong it will get.

As we learned from Hurricane Helene and Milton last year, and from countless other hurricanes, knowing as precisely as possible where they will hit and at what intensity is essential for getting people out of harm's way, stacking resources in advance where you will need them, and accurately warning the public about what's to come. 

The cutbacks in hurricane experts threatens to diminish the accuracy of the hurricane forecasts. Even if you don't care about human life, and just care about financial responsibility. these firings do not make sense. 

Inaccurate forecasts mean that coming up, people who should have been warned to get out of the way weren't, and people who were warned of an impending hurricane and fled would do so unnecessarily, as the storm went off in a different direction, due to bad forecasting. 

Fired federal hurricane researchers had also been working on improving forecasting models.  So better forecast accuracy is once again out the window. 

I guess Elon Musk is rich enough to avoid danger from hurricanes. The little people who would bear the brunt of these storms don't really matter, do they?

FEMA AND WILDFIRES

It's already been a busy year for wildfires, with that mega firestorm in Los Angeles in January. Plus other wildfires in Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, South Dakota, North Dakota, New York and other states already. 

You'd want well-trained crews to fight these fires. But that's not on the Trump agenda either, apparently. 

The National Fire Academy, the nations pre-eminent federal fire training center, has canceled its wildfire training courses as amid what it announced was the "process of evaluating agency programs and spending alignment with Administration priorities," the Associated Press reported.

In other words, battling wildfires and saving lives and property is not a Trump administration priority. Good to know. 

Wildfire training was set to begin next week.  People already had their plane tickets ready to go to this thing.  Maybe we can get Donald Trump and Elon Musk to rake the forests so that we won't have any wildfires?

I dunno. 

"Bowling Balls" Of Chilly Air Will Keep Interrupting Vermont Spring

Skies looked rather volatile last evening in St. Albans,
Vermont as a burst of cold air from Canada stirred
up some showers, clouds and downdrafts.

 It got awfully gusty at times and temperatures took abrupt tumbles Saturday afternoon as the first in a series of what I call "bowling" balls of chilly air invade our Vermont spring. 

While the northern hemisphere is warming up as the sun angle rises, it takes time to scour the pools of biting, winter cold air out of the Arctic.

These pools of frigid air tend to wander around up there as pieces of them get dislodged, inching the north toward spring. 

That cold pool for now is near Hudson Bay, Canada, which means it's in fairly close proximity to us her in Vermont.

Lucky us! For now, the pieces of nippy air that are breaking off from that frigid swirl of air in Canada are landing on, or at last near our doorstep. I refer to those pieces breaking off as bowling balls because they're compact, roll down from the north quickly, then move back off to our north and east just as fast. 

They're sort of drive-by cold snaps, if you will. 

A few days ago, it looked like these quick cold blasts would largely miss us here in the Green Mountain State. That forecast has obviously changed for the worse, at least if you like spring. 

We do see these pretty frequently in the spring here in Vermont. They're disheartening, but quick hitting, and spring resumes soon enough. Here's how our bowling match will play out this week. 

BOWLING BALL #1

The first one, the weakest of three that we'll deal with this week, came in Saturday afternoon.

The cold front had a fair amount of oomph to it, but the air was really dry.  The spring sunshine helped created updrafts that ran into the very cold air aloft.  This built up towering showers clouds. But that dry air down in the lowest few thousand feet of the atmosphere evaporated some of the precipitation coming down. 

The showers themselves had downdrafts to them. The evaporating rain and snow cooled the air further. The downdrafts and cold, dense air created by the evaporation rushed downward, causing those strong wind gusts at times Saturday afternoon. 

I'm sure a few places gusted to over 40 mph, perhaps 50 mph. I noticed the National Weather Service in South Burlington hoisted a few special weather statements, warning of gusts that high. 

It was cold enough for snow to fall in the upper elevations. Some places had graupel which is sort of a snow/small hail hybrid.  Our first bowling ball also created some dramatic late afternoon and evening skies over the region. Dark clouds, shafts of bright sun, gushes of rain and snow visible here and there, and some wild rainbows.

Today is cooler, with clouds mixed with some sun and breezes behind yesterday's "bowling ball.

The second one comes through this evening and overnight.

BOWLING BALL #2

Once again the air is dry but the cold front with this is strong. That should set off some gusty winds, scattered showers, and eventually, snow showers overnight. Temperatures will take quite a tumble, and we'll see the coldest air since late March by dawn. 

This by no means will be record cold, but it will be shock to the system. It'll be down in the 20s for pretty much all of us and northwest winds will make it feel colder.

If you have magnolias blooming, there's a good chance they'll become brown wreckage after this unfortunately. But the vast majority of garden plants current growing should survive just fine. 

Monday will be sunny, which will deceive you into thinking it's nice out. It will be cold for the season with highs only in the 40s.  The sun, gusty northwest winds and very dry air could create something of a fire danger.  Tis the season for that, as I explained in a post last week. 

Monday night will be cold, too, though it will warm up west as the cold bowling ball departs.  Tuesday will bounce back nicely to near 60 degrees.

BOWLING BALL #3

This has the potential to be the strongest and perhaps the most disruptive of the three, depending on which computer forecasting model you want to believe. 

The cold front and embedded low pressure will come in from the west and north, so rain will break out Tuesday night and Wednesday. So far so good. 

Then, the cold air rushes in, changing rain to snow, yes snow, Wednesday afternoon or evening. Probably even in the valleys. 

If you believe the European computer models, the storm won't linger much, so only a little snow will fall. If you believe the American model, this thing might linger for several hours, which could dump several inches of snow Wednesday evening and night. That's especially true along the western slopes of the Green Mountains. 

I'm not sure which one to believe yet, but of course I'm rooting for the European model on this one.

We do know we have another hard freeze Wednesday night, and probably Thursday night, and a chilly day Thursday.

After that, it starts to warm up, and we can forget the bowling balls for awhile. We'll go back to our regularly scheduled spring.  

As always, stay tuned for updates. The forecast could well change! 

Some Surprise Vermont Snows, With More On The Way

 

Snow fell all day Monday in St. Albans, Vermont but
didn't accumulate because of a high March sun angle,
and temperatures just above freezing. However.....

UPDATE

Noon Tuesday

Snowfall reports came in since I wrote this early this morning.  Snow was definitely more widespread and heavier than many expected. 

I added to this post the map the National Weather Service in South Burlington released showing snowfall totals. You can see it further down in this.

Several places along the western slopes of the central and northern Green Mountains had around six inches of snow. 

Even areas a little bit away from the mountains had three or four inches. 

The biggest winner was Underhill, with 7.6 inches. Areas right near Lake Champlain, the Connecticut Valley and parts of the Northeast Kingdom missed out. The NWS office in South Burlington only had 0.6 inches, for instance. 

Melt the snow down and you get a tenth of an inch or less of rain equivalent away from the mountains and western slopes. Areas near the Green Mountain had a respectable third to more than a half inch oc rain equivalent. 

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

A few areas of Vermont awoke to some surprising amounts of snow this  morning. 

Up here in St. Albans, I measured 3.5 inches of new snow. This is on cold surfaces.  The lawn has somewhat less snow due to warm ground melting this from beneath. 

We saw a real March phenomenon, too, as a high sun angle and just a general trend toward spring warming influenced how much snow actually accumulated.

It snowed all day Monday here in St. Albans, and along and west of the Green Mountains.  In relatively low elevations like where I live, there was no accumulation during the day despite hours of steady snowfall. It was basically white rain coming down. 

Even though it was overcast, some heat from the sun penetrated the clouds. That also helped temperatures hold just above freezing. Had it been January with the same snowfall, I

However, at night, the snow kept going and was able to
accumulate, leaving behind 3.5 inches in St. Albans,
at least in the eastern part of town away from Lake Champlain.

Toward dusk, the snow started to accumulate, and really started to pile up after dark. That lead to our more than three inches of snow.  I'm sure a few places in the northern and central Green Mountains had six inches or more.  

I notice the snow depth atop Mount Mansfield went from 62 inches Sunday to 68 inches by 5 p.m. Monday. And it surely snowed some more overnight way up there on Vermont's rooftop. 

I'm sure, though, that if this snow had come in January, I'd be shoveling at least six inches of new snow out of my St. Albans driveway.    

MUCH MORE SNOW COMING?

In the lower elevations, that March regime will melt at least some of the snow today in areas where it did accumulate, despite temperatures that will probably hold in the 30s. Today might be the first cooler than average day this month. The rest of the week looks to be mostly on the chilly side for this time of year too.

The last of the snow showers from overnight should depart, but more is coming. 

Map of snowfall from Monday and last night in Vermont
Widespread three to six inches across northern parts
of the state, which was more than forecast. 

The next system from the west will blow in tonight and tomorrow, spreading snow, and perhaps some cold raindrops mixed in at lower elevations Wednesday. 

This is another case of the mountains getting snow showered to death. It'll be another case of maybe an inch or two of new snow in most valleys, with some low lands getting nothing. 

But this little storm Wednesday and Wednesday night could easily dump another six inches of snow on Vermont's mountain summits and some ski areas.

Thursday will be by far the coldest day since February 29, with highs staying below freezing all day, except maybe in the warmest valleys of southern Vermont. 

This cold snap could set us up for a pretty good snowstorm toward Saturday.  

Maybe. Perhaps. Maybe not. Hard to tell.

Here's why:

Some computer models are generating a pretty good nor'easter whose path would put Vermont in the sweet spot for quite a lot of snow on Saturday. 

We'd get six or more inches of wet snow out of that scenario.

However, those computer models are having a feisty fight among themselves as to what's really going to happen. While some of those models give us a snowstorm, others say this will be one big nothing burger.

That  camp says it will be a weak storm that goes by too far to the east of Vermont to give us any real trouble. Others in this computer model fight club say it will be a fairly substantial storm, but it would also be too far east of Vermont to worry that much about. Then there's a small group that says it will be mostly a cold rain, not snow. A few models even say "Storm? What storm?"

For now, we'll just let those meteorological computer battles rage until they come up with some kind of truce or peace agreement in a couple of days. 

Chilly Vermont Morning But Warmer Times Ahead. Storm Questions Remain

Just one of many projections for a potential large
East Coast storm this coming Monday. Expect huge
changes one way or another for the storm forecast.
Could give us heavy rain, could give us nothing at all.

 We pretty much had our coldest morning so far of the early winter this morning here in Vermont

But that's not exactly saying much.   

It was 17 degrees in Burlington, a mere five degrees colder than average for the date. For those keeping track, we missed tying the record low for the date by a full 28 degrees. Yeah, not even close.  

Over in Saranac Lake, New York, that perennial cold spot reached a goose egg 0 degrees. Again, no big deal for them.

I'm only mentioning this because it just seems that this fall and early winter, nights in particular have mostly been on the warm side. 

There have already been five days this month in Burlington that never got below freezing. And we might have a few more coming up.

It's amazing that the summit of Mount Mansfield has managed to pile up 39 inches of snow. At least for now. Pretty impressive considering they've had some thawing at the summit occasionally this month. 

Another surge of warm air is heading our way, too. After a day that will stay at or below freezing, readings should surge into the 40s tomorrow. It'll be just a wee bit cooler Saturday but still warmer than average, before we get back into the 40s Sunday.

If this long range forecast is accurate, pretty much 
the entire nation, including here in Vermont, will
have a warmer than normal Christmas week.

There's still some huge question marks about that weird storm expected to develop near Florida over the weekend, then head north.

The computer model trends bring it further west and north than previous runs, which would put Vermont in the precipitation zone Monday. 

But that might not hold. This far out, computer models tend do something that I call windshield wipering. In other words they go back and forth day to day.

"It's going to score a direct hit on us!. No, wait a minute, out to sea.  Or a close shave. Further west again! No, east! West! East!" You can picture the computer models arguing like that.  

I think we should just relax until Saturday. By then, we should have a better idea on how things play out. For now, just put in the back of your mind we might have some rain or snow Sunday night and Monday. Kind of a weekly thing around here lately. 

Despite some likely chilly air behind that Monday storm, the overall pattern favors warmer than normal temperatures for us and almost the entire rest of the Lower 48 through Christmas. 

Google's AI Weather Forecasting Model Might Improve Forecasts

Old fart that I am, I tend toward skepticism with AI, or to spell it out, Artificial Intelligence.

Google's GraphCast AI weather forecasting model
performs better than current weather models,
according to studies. 

I know that's where we're going and there's certain benefits to the technology, but don't get me started on the downsides. 

However, if I must focus on the positive,  Google has developed some AI technology consisting of a weather forecasting model that experts say could vastly improve predictions. 

For years now,  it seems like every time there's a storm, you hear about the American model and the European model disagreeing on the track and intensity of expected bad weather. Both are computer models of course, with the European model arguably the better of the two.

According to studies, the AI weather forecasting model from Google is a big improvement over these old school models. I guess all roads lead to Google these days. 

According to the Washington Post: 

"Google DeepMind's AI model, named "GraphCast," was trained on nearly 40 years of historical data and can make a 10-day forecast at six-hour intervals for locations spread around the globe in less than a minute on a computer the size of a small box. 

It takes a traditional model an hour or more on a supercomputer the size of a school bus to accomplish the same feat. GraphCast as more accurate than the European model on more than 90 percent of the weather variables evaluated."

GraphCast is actually one of several AI weather forecasting models under development. Government agencies world wide are looking into AI models because they are fast, efficient and can save money. 

As the Washington Post explains, current models like the American and European make forecasts based on really complex mathematical equations that would make anybody's head spin. These models are expensive because they require tons and TONS of computing power.

The AI models work differently. They suck up pretty much all the historical weather data available, then generate forecasts by looking at current conditions and figuring out what will happen next based on that historical data.

In a sense, AI weather forecasting models are old school.  In addition to relying on computer models, many human meteorologists often compare historical weather events to what's going on now to help them predict what the weather will be like tomorrow. 

One question about AI and weather forecasting is its ability to forecast extreme events.  There are not many super wild weather events from the past from which AI can "learn" about and then project into the future.  

This is especially true in our age of climate change, considering that we're seeing more and more record storms, record temperatures and weird storm behavior. 

However, GraphCast performed well in these event. Says the Washington Post: 

"GraphCast reduced cyclone forecast track errors by around 10 to 15 miles at lead time of two to four days, improved forecasts of water vapor associated with atmospheric rivers by 10 to 25 percent, and provided more precise forecasts of extreme heat and cold five to 10 days ahead of time."

However, questions remain as to whether GraphCast and other AI models can accurately forecast small scale weather trouble, like severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and localized flash floods. We also don't know how well AI does with larger storms that produce heavy precipitation in one area, but light rain or snowfall just miles away. 

That's particularly important here in Vermont. The most dangerous weather in the Green Mountain State include flash floods roaring out of the mountains;  downslope winds during winter storms that can be destructive in one town and no big deal the next; and nor'easters that can dump a couple feet of snow in say, Ludlow, but just a few inches up the road in Rutland.  

The Washington Post also cautions that AI isn't going to replace traditional computer models, or human meteorologists for that matter. At least not right away. Traditional models offer the initial conditions that AI uses to project the future. Also, the old computer models are still necessary to "teach" AI how to interpret historical weather. 

Also, it'll take real-life meteorologists to transmit what AI is telling us what will happen into the Plain English we need to know whether to take an umbrella with us tomorrow.  

 Some of the headlines are already overblown on the idea of AI "replacing" meteorologists. The headline about GraphCast Tuesday in Gizmodo was "Google's New AI Weatherman Will Leave Forecasters In The Dust."

Read the actual Gizmodo article and you discover, not quite. As that article states, "The study authors say their work is meant to work alongside the standard systems meteorologists rely on."

So AI isn't going to chase away your favorite meteorologists like Al Roker, Jim Cantore, Ginger Zee or local Vermont favorites like Gary Sadowski, Tyler Jankowski or Mark Breen.   

If it all works out, AI will be another tool these meteorologists use to give us their most accurate forecasts.  I'd hate to see our forecasts just coming from some sterile machine.  I need the human touch when I'm being told how much snow I'm going to have to shovel from my driveway. 

I just hope the bean counters at major media outlets don't think they can fully replace humans. Because they can't.