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The Morning After: Ill Wind Blows Weather Channel Good

By James Poniewozik | @poniewozik | February 3, 2011 | +

And here I thought it was only major national news when we got snow here in New York City! It may have taken a massive, thousand-plus-mile blizzard to do it, but the Midwest has wrestled back the crown of winter primacy from the East Coast, and the result—as a massive snowstorm buried Chicago and other parts of what weathercasters call “the nation’s midsection”—was huge ratings for The Weather Channel. On Tuesday, TWC had its biggest ratings day ever and was the number-one cable news network among viewers age 25 to 54.

One of whom was me; even though NYC only got a glaze of ice this time, I can’t help but be hypnotized by watching a storm unfold with TWC’s chipper, excited staff. On Tuesday morning, its on-air talent engaged in an on-air battle to be the one to coin the storm’s name: an anchorwoman was pushing “The Beast,” while one correspondent kept trying to make “The Crippler” happen. (Meanwhile, in the video above, you can see Jim Cantore blow a gasket, and use some rather un-TWC language, experiencing “thundersnow”: “Oh, JEE-sus!”)

Whatever you called it, if you’re in one of the snowbound parts of the country, how was the coverage? And if you find any local reporters unearthed from a snowdrift this morning, be kind and offer them some cocoa.

Related Topics: the morning after, the weather channel, thundersnow, Uncategorized

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  • The Hoobie

    We live in the greater Chicago area, and I was at work for much of Tuesday, so I couldn’t follow weather coverage, but Mr. The Hoobie was at home and watching TWC; he kept calling me with updates.

    On Tuesday night, we planned to turn on our beloved local treasure, Tom Skilling, after we put the kids to bed, but just before 9:00 PM, we completely lost power (and heat); it wasn’t restored until about 11:00 the next morning (hooray for flashlights and warm blankets). Being in the dark made the thundersnow extra dramatic.

    *My favorite “snowmanteau” for this storm: SnOMG!

    *Not to minimize the terrifying misery of the people who experienced it, but is it wrong that when I first heard about the cars that had been trapped on Lake Shore Drive, my mind instantly flashed to this song?

  • The Hoobie

    Another Chicagoland tradition: a yearly variation on this article. Sigh.

  • The Hoobie

    I do hope none of the people trapped in their cars happened to hear that song on the radio. Talk about insult to injury.

    (Sorry to make you have to hold that comment and click through those links, JP. I gotta remember: WordPress is OK with two links in a comment, but three is apparently the camel-straw.)

  • twocee2

    I didn’t think anyone could get more excited about weather than Tom Skilling until I saw Jim Cantore’s video :)

    Hoobie, did you happen to see the news Wed night when Micah Mitere was making fun of Cantore and Skilling rushed to defend him? They’re obviously friends, and it was hilarious to see Tom get upset that Micah didn’t know who Jim Cantore was.

    It is unfortunate that the national media focused so much on the LSD debacle. The remaining 99% of the city was fine, and life is pretty much back to normal today (Friday), only 2 days after the end of the blizzard.

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