It takes me about fifteen minutes to get from my house to the freeway onramp at Pleasant Grove Boulevard. That’s good because it means that no matter what time I leave, my clock will end up on a “9” before I hit the freeway. The local news station broadcasts “traffic and weather on the nines.” So, at
- 0:09
- 0:19
- 0:29
- 0:39
- 0:49
- 0:59
…minutes after the hour, I’ll hear the traffic and the weather report. The traffic report is only mildly interesting. I have two routes I can take to work. One of them is shorter and uses the freeway. It takes 45 minutes with no traffic and up to an 1:15 minutes if the traffic is bad. The second route is longer and it takes 1:15 minutes regardless. So, most mornings, I’m taking the short, crowded route. But, it’s still nice to hear what my commute will be like.
After the traffic report, they do the weather forecast. To mix it up, at some times they will do the current daily forecast. At other times, they will do an “hour by hour” forecast for the day. Still other times they will give the “seven day forecast.” I find the weather forecast much more interesting than the traffic forecast. And yet, there is literally nothing I can do about the weather, where I do have some control over traffic.
Now, I know what you’re saying. I might change my plans based on the weather. And that’s true. We are going on an overnight camping trip this weekend. We’ll be camping around the 7200 feet level. Knowing what the weather will be like will help determine what gear to take. And since we are hiking in 6 miles, with 4000 feet of elevation change, every extra pair of socks or rain poncho adds up.
But, honestly, I need that forecast once, maybe twice before Friday. I don’t need it literally six times per hour. And yet, I tune in on my way to work to hear what the weather will be like at 3:00 this afternoon, or tomorrow morning at 2:00AM. We all do it. And more than that, talk of the weather dominates our daily conversations.
Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.
– Mark Twain
Today is May 17th, we are well into Spring here in Utah, and this is a picture of the grass outside my office. We might not be able to do much about it, but snow in May is certainly something to talk about.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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