There is no debate that a potentially dangerous winter storm will sweep across the United States this weekend, but some media outlets seem to be pushing their coverage into the realm of panic and hysteria.
“Historic winter storm is so dangerous it could kill Americans sheltering INSIDE their homes,” a Daily Mail headlined screamed Friday.
The Mail wrote that the threat came from the loss of heat due to potential power outages caused by the storm.
On Thursday, the British newspaper also reported that “winter storms have killed at least 90 people across 13 states,” though that total apparently is from more isolated weather events earlier this year.
“Flights have been canceled, store shelves have been emptied and roads have been treated in at least 34 states that will be impacted by Winter Storm Fern,” headlined the Weather Channel.
The cable channel took a less sensational approach, reporting that the storm will impact 30 states stretching across the country but also adding that “messages are growing more urgent about the impacts of the massive and potentially historic” storm.
According to the Weather Channel:
Multiple states have made emergency declarations, schools and public offices are closing and people are being urged to have their emergency supplies ready and to get off the roads as soon as they can. Heavy snow and devastating ice could leave millions without power for days, not hours. Some 230 million people are under a variation of winter storm watches, advisories and warning.
In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani reportedly said Friday’s weather was “the calm before the storm.”
According to AccuWeather:
AccuWeather meteorologists say the snow will begin to fall in New York City around daybreak on Sunday and accumulate up to 8 inches, before it changes over to sleet on Sunday night. If precipitation manages to stay as all snow, the city could receive around a foot, which would be the biggest storm since Feb. 1, 2021. the storm will end on Monday, followed by a blast of Arctic air.
It is the southern states that face the threat of freezing rain, which can wreak havoc on power lines and tree limbs.
For that region, AccuWeather reported:
One-quarter of an inch of freezing rain is all it takes for power outages to begin, based on the weight on tree limbs and power lines. This zone is forecast to extend from near San Angelo, Texas, to east of Raleigh, North Carolina. Areas that have a potential for the glaze of half of an inch to 1 inch include northeastern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, northern and central Mississippi, parts of northern Alabama, northern Georgia and upstate South Carolina.
The most recent post on X by the National Weather Service shows a map outlining where snow and ice is expected to impact northern and southern states.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more. He is a former long-time resident of Michigan where they call snow, ice, and sub-freezing cold “winter.”
